406 



GAME-BIRDS. 



d. It is at this time that they produce their peculiar 

 boomiug, or " tooting," which is so loud that it can be heard 

 at the distance of several miles. Their ordinary note is the 

 chucking which belongs to other Grouse. 



The "Prairie Hens" are still abundant in the West, 

 whence thousands are forwarded to Eastern markets. Their 

 gradual extermination is greatly to be regretted. 



III. BONASA. 



A. UMBELLUS. Ruffed Grouse. '-^Partridge.'" ^^ Phea- 

 sant.''^ In many parts of New England, a common resident 

 throughout the 3^ear.* 



a. About eighteen inches long. Above, reddish brown, 

 with numerous gray edgings. Erectile crown-feathers, and 

 interscapulars, marked with black. Ruff-feathers on the 

 sides of the neck, dark brown or black, with two or three 



imminent danger of total extinction. — 

 W. B. 



* In the twelfth (1766) edition of 

 his Sy sterna Naturce. Linnaeus described 

 two forms of the Ruffed Grouse from 

 eastern North America, but one of 

 them was practically lost sight of for 

 more than a century afterwards, imtil 

 in 1885 Mr. Ridgway nominally but 

 formally recognized it {Proc. U. S. 

 Nat. Mils., vol. viii, p. 355) as a sub- 

 species of umheUus. Two years later 

 he proposed {Manual N. A. Birds, 

 pp. 195, 196) to distinguish the birds by 

 the following respective characters : — 



Bonasa umbellus. — "Upper parts 

 mostly or entirely rusty, the tail usu- 

 ally rusty ochraceous." 



Bonasa umbellus togata. — " Upper 

 parts with more or less gray, often 

 mostly grayish, the tail usually gray 

 (sometimes tinged with ochraceous)." 



To this it may be added that in run- 

 bellus the throat is usually plain buffy, 

 whereas it is nearly always consjiic- 

 uously marked with dusky in togata, 

 and further that the dark markings of 

 togata are ordinarily blacker and more 



pronounced — especially on the sides 

 — than in umbellus. 



The two forms are now very gener- 

 ally regarded as distinct. Both occur 

 in New England, but their respective 

 distribution is not as yet very accu- 

 rately known. It is safe to say, how- 

 ever, that the dark gray birds which 

 inhabit the primitive coniferous for- 

 ests of northern Maine and New 

 Hampshire, as well as some of the 

 higher mountains of southern New 

 Hampshire and western Massachu- 

 setts, are all nearly or quite typical 

 representatives of togata. Not less 

 typical of umbellus are the bright ru- 

 fous Grouse of Martha's Vineyard and 

 Cape Cod, but those found elsewhere 

 in eastern Massachusetts, as well as in 

 Connecticut (even as far south as Say- 

 brook), vary exceedingly in color and 

 markings (especially in the color of 

 the tail), and can seldom be satisfac- 

 torily referred to either of the forms 

 here considered. As a rule they are 

 more or less intermediate between the 

 two, but they also exhibit all manner of 

 individual and local variations. — W. B. 



