408 GAME-BIRDS. 



drab buff to rich reddish buff, and are sometimes spotted. 

 From eight to fifteen are laid together in the latter part of 

 May. The nest consists of a few leaves and grasses placed 

 on the ground, beside a log, rock, or tree, in the woods. It 

 is most often to be found in or near swampy lands. The last 

 which I examined, which contained eight fresh eggs about the 

 twenty-fifth of May, was placed in the " scrub," beneath an 

 interlacing of fallen switches. It was a hollow, about nine 

 inches in diameter, and was lined chiefly with bits of dry fern. 



c.^'^'' Had our forefathers been as intolerant of error in 

 matters of science as in matters of faith, and had they wished, 

 in applying familiar names to common objects, that the Eng- 

 lish shoidd obtain by comparison an accurate impression of 

 what was found here, our Ruffed Grouse would have been 

 called " Wood Grouse," and not " Partridges," for they are 

 Grouse, though they differ strikingly from the English birds 

 of that name, as well as from our own " Pinnated Grouse," 

 in frequenting the woods, in the whiteness of their meat, in 

 their want of sociability, and finally in their markings. The 

 three birds differ but little in size. 



The Ruffed Grouse have in common with their English 

 relatives an indifference to danger early in the season, and, a 

 little later, cunning and wariness, combined with swiftness on 

 the wing. They resemble in habits the British Pheasants, 

 whence the name given to them in the South and parts of the 

 Middle States ; and, since the English Partridges scarcely re- 

 semble at all their namesakes in New England, it must be 

 confessed that the " Southerners " have come nearer the 

 mark, in calling the present species a Pheasant. 



The Ruffed Grouse, or " Partridges," are very hardy, and, 

 though not migratory, may be found from Newfoundland and 

 the western British possessions to Georgia and New Mexico 

 on the south and west. We shall here describe their habits 

 in New England. 



In the spring and early summer may be heard that remark- 

 able sound called "drumming." Whoever is fortunate 



127 This biography, and the three following-, have been contributed by a 

 friend. 



