BUFFED GROUSE 141 



Fall. — Mr. McCabe writes to me : 



The male, of course, takes zio part in rearing the young and is never seen near 

 the broods in the summer. Yet in the late summer or early autumn the birds 

 gather into mixed groups, young males and females and adult females, to the 

 number of six or seven, under the leadership of a single adult male. The latter 

 when they are disturbed, assumes his display attitude, just as we have described 

 it at courting time, utters a rapid clucking sound, and approaches the intruder, 

 a magnificent creature, while the rest either draw off quietly or squat in 

 supposed concealment. There would be nothing peculiar about this were it not 

 for the fact that these groups only hold together for the two or three autumn 

 months and then dissolve. The birds are very hard to find in winter as they 

 remain sluggishly in the hearts of the big balsams, eating the needles (we 

 counted 5,500 in one crop) or sometimes on the ground in dense masses of small 

 balsams whose lower branches are weighed down into the snow, but when found 

 (we collected three females last January) they are invariably single. 



Mr. Saunders tells me that though he has traveled on snowshoes 

 many times in midwinter, through forests where Franklin's grouse 

 are known to occur, he has never seen one at that season. Evidently 

 they remain well hidden. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Northwestern United States and southwestern Canada. 

 It is nonmigratory. 



The range of Franklin's grouse extends north to southeastern 

 Alaska (Kasaan Bay) ; northern British Columbia (Tatletuey Lake, 

 Thudade Lake, Ingenika River, and Hudsons Hope) ; and central Al- 

 berta (Edmonton). East to central Alberta (Edmonton, Pipestone 

 River and Banff) ; western Montana (St. Marys Lake, Bel ton, Paola, 

 Mount McDonald, and Belt Mountains) ; and central Idaho (Baker 

 Creek). South to central Idaho (Baker Creek, Sawtooth City, and 

 Resort); and northern Oregon (Mount Hood). "West to northern 

 Oregon (Mount Hood) ; Washington (Cowlitz Pass, Bumping Lake, 

 Yakima Pass, Lake Chelan, and Pasaytens River) ; British Columbia 

 (probably Chilli wack, Alpha Lake, Fort George, Fort St. James, 

 Stewart Lake, Babine Lake, and Nine-mile Mountain) ; and south- 

 eastern Alaska (Kasaan Bay). 



Egg dates. — British Columbia, Alberta, and Montana : 13 records, 

 May 18 to July 29 ; 7 records, May 27 to June 9. 



BONASA UMBELLUS UMBELLUS (Linneaus) 

 RUFFED GROUSE 



HABITS 



Spring. — During the first warm days of early spring the wanderer 

 in our New England woods is gladdened and thrilled by one of the 

 sweetest sounds of that delightful season, the throbbing heart, as it 



