RUFFED GROUSE 149 



The eggs are ovate in shape, with variations toward short-ovate or 

 elongate-ovate. The shell is smooth with a very slight gloss. The 

 ground colors vary from " chamois " to " cream-buff " or " cartridge 

 buff," or, more rarely, from " pinkish buff " to " cinnamon-buff." 

 About half of the eggs, perhaps more, are entirely immaculate ; others 

 are more or less spotted with a few small spots or dots of " sayal 

 brown," " clay color," or duller buffs. The measurements of 73 eggs 

 average 38.9 by 29.6 millimeters ; the eggs showing the four extremes 

 measure 42.7 by 28.3, 40 by 32, and 33 by 25 millimeters. 



Young. — The incubation period has been variously recorded by 

 different observers at 21, 24, or 28 days; probably 21 days is the 

 normal period under faAorable circumstances, which may be length- 

 ened by cold or wet weather or by interrupted incubation. The female 

 alone performs this duty and raises only one brood in a season. The 

 young leave the nest soon after they are hatched, or as soon as the 

 down is dry, leaving the empty eggshells in the nest neatly split into 

 halves. 



The female ruffed grouse is a model mother, assuming full care of 

 the young, leading them away from the nest, teaching them to scratch 

 and hunt for insects and seeds among the fallen leaves, and showing 

 them where the best berries are to be found and what green food is 

 good to eat. The young are at first very sensitive to dampness and 

 must not be allowed to wander in wet grass or herbage; she broods 

 them under her wings, keeping them dry and warm during wet 

 weather, and she broods them also at night. When they are older 

 she leads them to bare places in the woodland roads, where they are 

 taught to dust themselves and free their plumage of vermin. A 

 species of wood tick causes the death of many very young chicks by 

 burrowing into the skin of the neck or back — a situation with which 

 the mother seems unable to cope. William Brewster (1925) ob- 

 tained some evidence that the ticks kill the small chicks by boring 

 through the tender skull into the brain. 



But her devotion is shown to the best advantage in her heroic de- 

 fense of the young against their enemies. While walking quietly 

 through the woods we may be startled by a shrill, whining cry and 

 see the infuriated bird, bristling with rage, rushing toward us, her 

 tail spread and all her plumage extended; she seems twice her nat- 

 ural size and imposing enough to cause any enemy to pause. Some- 

 times she is less aggressive and merely flutters away, feigning lame- 

 ness, or skulks away, crouching close to the ground and uttering 

 the same whining cry, which is the signal to the young to hide. 

 When the young are older a clucking note is given as a signal to fly. 

 The behavior of the mother is so startling that we have lost sight of 



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