126 BULLETIN 162, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



consume quantities of berries of Empetrum and Yaccinium and in the fall the 

 flesh of the young * * * has a fine flavor, and, as the meat is white, it is 

 very acceptable. 



In some instances the flesh of adults in summer is also free from any 

 taste of turpentine. According to A. L. Adams (1873) it is said 

 that the flesh is sometimes poisonous when the birds have been eating 

 mountain-laurel berries. 



Behavior. — The chief characteristic of the Hudsonian spruce 

 grouse is its unsuspicious character, which amounts, indeed, to stupid- 

 ity. This is illustrated by an experience of Lucien M. Turner, who 

 says: 



I once shot 11 and did not move a yard in distance to do so. The people of 

 Labrador employ a method which they term " slipping," i. e., a slip noose on a 

 long pole which enables the holder to slip the noose over the heads of the birds 

 and jerk them down. One who is expert in this method rarely fails to obtain 

 all the birds within reach. 



D. G. Elliot (1897) says: " I have seen birds push this noose aside 

 with their bills without changing their position, when through 

 awkwardness, or unsteadiness of hand on account of a long reach, 

 the noose had touched the bird's head but had not slipped over it." 

 I have known a botanist to kill an adult grouse by throwing his 

 short-handled collecting pick at it. 



The plumage of spruce grouse often makes them difficult to dis- 

 tinguish from their surroundings, and if their tameness depends on 

 this protective coloration, they are overconfident, for, in a setting of 

 reindeer lichen or snow, or an open branch of a spruce, they are 

 very conspicuous. When flushed they generally fly only a few yards 

 or even feet, and, alighting in trees, they continually thrust the 

 head and neck now this way, now that, and appear to be blindly 

 trying to discover what has disturbed them. As a rule the flight 

 is noiseless, or a slight sound only is heard, but at times they rise with 

 a loud whir of wing beats. 



I have already mentioned the tameness or boldness of the female 

 bird with her brood. This boldness is also shown at the nest contain- 

 ing eggs. J. Fletcher Street writes: 



The nest was somewhat hidden under a dense spruce shrub, and while I 

 was cutting away some of the inclosing branches to obtain a better view, the 

 bird left and at first charged toward me. Then she withdrew and kept retreat- 

 ing as I approached toward her, keeping about 10 feet between us. She 

 exhibited but little concern after having left the nest but would not return 

 to it while I remained nearby. I left the locality for three definite periods 

 and upon each return found the bird sitting upon the eggs, yet becoming more 

 wary at each successive disturbance. 



Referring to this bird, Joseph Grinnell (1900) says: "After the 

 snow came, grouse were seldom found for they remained continually 



