GROUSE 



15 



with white; tail mottled with buff and tipped very 

 narrowly with orange-brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: On the ground, well-con- 

 cealed under low conifer branches, brush heaps, or 

 tamarack; constructed of dry twigs and leaves and 

 lined with moss and grass. Eggs: 8 to 14, buflfy or red- 



dish-brown, blotched and spotted with different shades 

 of darker brown. 



Distribution. — I'Vom the eastern base of the Rocky 

 .Mountains west of Edmonton, .Alberta, east to Labra- 

 dor Peninsula ; also a discomiected area in .Alaska from 

 Bristol Bay to Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound. 



There is no such bird as the Spruce rarlridf^e. 

 It is the Spruce Grouse (Canacliitcs canadensis) ; 

 but it is calk-cl Sjirucc Partridge in common ])ar- 

 lance to distinguisli it from the Birch Partridge 

 (Ruffed Grouse) and ornithologists have adopted 

 the popular misnomer, well knowing it to be 

 incorrect. In recent years this Grouse has been 

 divided into three races or subsijccics, differing 

 slightly in plumage but hardly any in habits. The 

 races are : ( i ) Hudsonian Spruce Partridge 

 (Canacliitcs canadensis canadensis), (2) Alaska 

 Spruce Partridge {Canacliitcs canadensis os- 

 goodi), and (3) Canada Spruce Partridge {Can- 

 achites canadensis canacc). These three races 

 (each in its allotted place) inhabit most of the 

 wooded regions of (Tanada and Alaska except 

 southern British Columbia, Alaska, and central 

 Alberta, where another species, Franklin's Grouse 

 (Canacliitcs franklini). takes their place. 



The Spruce Partridge is a bird of the northern 

 wilderness. Only one of the three races of Cana- 

 densis ever reaches the United States, and that 

 one, the Canada Spruce Partridge, touches only 

 a few of the northern States, in most of which 

 it is now nearly or quite extinct. The Spruce 

 Partridge is a dweller in dark spruce woods and 

 tamarack swamps, north into boreal regions, 

 probably as far as its favorite trees extend. The 

 extermination of the southern race over much 

 of its range in the United States is a blot on our 

 history, as the bird always was harmless and 

 interesting. It is hardy and fearless. It is too 

 confiding, however, to exist in the neighborhood 

 of civilized man — the most bloodthirsty and de- 

 structive of all animals. In the mating season 

 the male struts about with bristling feathers, 

 head, neck, and tail raised, tail expanded and 

 body held level. The drumming is not done 

 exactly like that of the Ruffed Grouse, but the 

 bird performs by beating the air with its wings 

 as it climbs up a leaning tree trunk, or else it 

 flies from the ground, sometimes nearly to the 

 tree tops, often only a few feet in air, and drums 

 suspended with beating wings. 



In its native wilds this bird exhibits the most 

 charming confidence in mankind. The hunters 

 know it as the champion fool among birds. The 

 Indian boy shoots it with a blunt-headed arrow 

 or even knocks it down with a stick as it walks 



by tmconccrncdly or sits on a limb regarding the 

 intruder with ha])])y curiosity. Full-grown birds 

 have been caught in the hand or beheaded with 

 a switch. The htmler meets a brood in the trail 

 and they merely step aside and watch the passer 

 with a sort of affectionate regard. As civiliza- 



Photo by H. E. Anthony 



SPRUCE PARTRIDGE 

 A bird of the northern wilderness 



tion approaches, the Spruce Partridge disappears, 

 for man destroys every wild creature that con- 

 fides in him. If any escape they learn by ex- 

 perience, but the Spruce Partridge is too slow to 

 learn. There is little excuse for killing it as the 

 flesh is dark and unpalatable, having a strong 

 flavor of spruce and fir foliage which forms a 

 great part of its food. In summer it feeds more 

 or less on insects and berries and, as the flesh is 

 improved in flavor by this diet, the bird is hunted 

 most then and in early autumn when the young 

 are at their best. Its only possible chance for 

 salvation is its residence in the northern wilder- 

 ness where white men are few and far between. 

 Edward Howe Forbush. 



