VALDEZ SPRUCE GROUSE 135 



not highly regarded as a table bird, for its flesh is said to be unpalat- 

 able. This is probably so in winter, when it has been feeding on 

 spruce and balsam leaves; its flesh is then dark and decidedly resin- 

 ous in flavor. But during fall, when it feeds largely on berries, green 

 herbage, and insects, its flesh has a very different color and flavor. 

 Brewster (1925) says that some young birds, shot in September, 

 " proved delicious eating, their flesh being much sweeter and finer 

 flavoured than that of any Kuffed Grouse. Both before and after 

 cooking it was nearly as white as the Ruffed Grouse's, where as the 

 fully-matured Spruce Grouse has invariably dull reddish flesh some- 

 what too redolent of spruce foliage to be relished by everyone, 

 although I do not dislike it. The flesh of at least some of the young 

 becomes, almost, if not quite, as dark as that of the adults, by the 

 last of September." 



These birds are killed for food all through the fall and winter by 

 hunters of large and small game, by lumbermen, and by trappers and 

 others. They are so easily killed that they are disappearing very 

 rapidly and are now very scarce in northern New England in any 

 but the most inaccessible regions. 



Winter.— Walter H. Rich (1907) writes: 



During a snowstorm the Spruce Grouse usually flies up into the densest 

 clump of spruce or fir trees in the neighborhood, and, under their thick, arching 

 branches, snow-laden and bending, he finds shelter from the weather and food 

 in abundance. He may not leave the tree for several days if undisturbed and 

 the storm continues. The question of temperature troubles him little, and 

 with his wants all provided for, the Spruce Grouse is more independent in his 

 mode of life than any of his feathered neighbors, for when other birds are 

 scurrying about for something to eat and perhaps going hungry, this gentleman 

 finds plenty of food in his shelter, and sits in comfort, " at ease in his own inn." 



CANACHITES CANADENSIS ATRATUS Grinnell 



VALDEZ SPRUCE GROUSE 

 HABITS 



Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1910), in describing the spruce grouse of the 

 coast region of southeastern Alaska, says that it " resembles Gana- 

 chites canadensis osgoodi of the interior of Alaska (Yukon and 

 Kowak Vallej's), but general tone of coloration darker: white mark- 

 ings less in extent; black areas more extended; and grays less ashy, 

 more olivaceous." 



Of its distribution he says : " The indications are that this form 

 is generally distributed in the humid coast belt from the eastern 

 side of the Kenai Peninsula southwestwardly at least as far as 

 Hawkins Island, and probably beyond." 



