226 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



interscapulars, inner secondaries and wing-coverts usually edged or tipped with buffy 

 white and often witla large spots of black; each feather of lower back, rump and upper 

 tail-coverts with a lance-shaped or heart-shaped shaft spot of grayish white; neck ruffs 

 clear sooty black, with greenish or purplish metallic gloss at the tip; tail rusty brown to 

 clear gray, crossed at regular distances by 6 to 9 narrow black bars, followed by a broad 

 sub-terminal black or brownish black band, and tipped by speckled gray or grayish white. 

 Chin and upper throat clear buff, the lower feathers more or less tipped with dusky; re- 

 mainder of under parts white, grayish white, or bufTy white with numerous cross-bars of 

 deep buff, brown or black, these bars strongest and darkest on sides and flanks, often 

 obscure on breast and belly. Female: Similar, but somewhat smaller; the ruff smaller, 

 duller and more brownish, the dark bars below less distinct. Iris hazel, bill dark brown, 

 feet dark horn-color. 



Length 15.50 to 19 inches; wing 7 to 7.50; tail 5.50 to 7. 



Fig. G2. Foot of Ruffed Grouse, in summer and in winter (at riglit). 

 Reprinted from Cliapman's Bird Life, by courtesy of D. Appleton & Co. 



123. Canada Ruffed Grouse. Bonasa umbellus togata (Linn.). (300a) 



Synonyms: Northern Ruffed Grouse, Canadian Ruffed Grouse, Spruce-woods Ruffled 

 Grouse (not Spruce Grouse). — Tetrao togatus, Linn., 1766. 



Separable from the common Ruffed Grouse by its somewhat larger 

 size, decidedly grayer upper parts and tail, and the heavier, more distinct 

 dark bars of the under parts. It also as a rule shows more black on the 

 upper surface and a decided absence of rufous on the same areas; typical 

 examples, however, can scarcely be named without comparison, even 

 by experts. 



Distribution. — The spruce forests of northern New England, northern 

 New York, and the British Provinces, west to Oregon, Washington and 

 British Columbia, north to James Bay. 



The occurrence of this subspecies in Michigan has been a matter of 

 doubt ever since its description by Ridgway in 1885. Various writers 

 have stated more or less positively that it was found in the colder parts 

 of the state, but in most cases specimens have not been examined by 

 competent authorities. Even now we do not feel sure that typical togata 

 is found anywhere in the state, although it seems highly probable that birds 

 from the spruce forests of the eastern part of the Upper Peninsula may prove 

 to belong to this race. 



It is included in Mr. Wood's list of birds observed in the Por- 

 cupine Mountains, Ontonagon county (Ecology of Northern Michigan. 

 1906, p. 114), and Mr. Wood writes me that the specimens collected 

 by the party at that time (summer of 1904) were identified as togata by 



