176 BULLETIN 16 2, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



(Pyrus rivularls) which grow in the low, damp woods. The birds- 

 visit these trees very early in the morning and late in the evening, 

 at which times they may be found silently perched upon the 

 branches." 



Mr. Dawson (1909) adds: "They are fond of the fruit of the 

 Cascara, which they gather from the ground; and wild crab-apples 

 are favorites in season. These last ripen about the middle of 

 October, and from that time until the alders bud again these Grouse 

 are often to be found in evergreen trees." 



Behavior. — In general the habits of the Oregon ruffed grouse do 

 not differ from those of the rest of the species, except so far as they 

 are affected by differences in environment. In the wilder sections 

 they are quite unsophisticated. 



Enemies. — J. H. Bowles (1901) tells the following remarkable 

 story : 



The carnivorous habits of chipmunks as related in the recent issues of The 

 Condor were very interesting to me, though I believe mice are far more guilty. 

 Mice are a perfect pest to ground-builders in this country, as they burrow into 

 the ground several yards away from the nest and then tunnel until they reach 

 the bottom of the nest. 



They then dig upward into the nest and carry the eggs into their tunnel to 

 eat. I have often found broken and unbroken eggs several feet from the nest 

 in a burrow. I have never actually seen mice do this, but the tunnels are much 

 loo small for anything else. The Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus sabini) are 

 the worst sufferers that I have yet found, and their eggs are the largest that I 

 have seen destroyed in (his manner. All the small ground-builders suffer more 

 or less. 



Game. — Dawson (1909) writes: 



From the point of view of the sportsman, this bird is not to be compared with 

 the Ruffed Grouse of the Eastern States. Its cover is too abundant, and it does 

 not take the discipline which has educated the wily " partridge." It seldom 

 allows the dog to come to a correct point, usually flushing into the nearest small 

 tree, where it sits peeping and perking like an overgrown chicken, regarding 

 now the dog and now the hunter. Pot-shooting the birds under these circum- 

 stances can hardly be called sport, but their fondness for dense thickets often 

 makes it the only way in which they can be obtained. 



Edwyn Sandys (1904) evidently agrees with Dawson, for he says: 



In British Columbia the sport, as found, could not compare with that of the 

 East. Those who know the wonderful western province will readily guess why. 

 In many places the trees almost rival the famous big conifers of California, 

 and they are crowded together as thickly as it is possible for such mighty 

 trunks to stand. Frequently the lower spaces are filled with ferns of such size 

 and luxuriance as to suggest semitropic lands rather than a portion of Canada. 

 In such cover the keenest of guns can do little or nothing. The writer is over 

 six feet tall, but in that cover he felt like a veritable babe in the wood. The 

 size of the firs was almost oppressive — but the ferns — ye gods ! such ferns. 

 In places they grow like the big western corn, close and rank, towering a yard 



