(•>R()L'SE 



RUFFED GROUSE 

 Bonasa umbellus umbellus ( LiinKcus) 



A. O. U. NiimluT .joo Sec Color I'l.itc 41 



Other Names. — Grouse; Shouldcr-knot Grouse; 

 r'artridge : Dnmiminj; Grouse: Kirch PartrirlRe ; 

 IMu-asaiit ; Dniuiniiiit; Pheasant; Mountain Pheasant. 



General Description. — Length. 18 inches. Color 

 above, reddish-lirown. spotted ; below, yellowish, barred 

 with dark. Both crested and ruffed; tail and wings of 

 equal length ; tail with 18 broad, blunt feathers, and 

 somewhat double notched, so that it is nearly half- 

 diamond shape when spread ; tarsus partly feathered in 

 front. 



Color. — ADULT.S : Lores, cream ; crown, variegated 

 black, brown, and yellow; nape more softly blended 

 with gray and reddish-brown; back and shoulders, 

 cinnamon-rufous, each feather witli a broad yellowish- 

 white center stripe, this stripe mottled on both sides 

 with brownish-black ; lower back, rump, and upper tail- 

 feathers, tawny-brown mixed with gray, speckled with 

 heart-shaped spots of yellowish-white; tail, itarjii 

 hrozi'ii or yrayisU-ash. crossed with six or seven nar- 

 row bands of blackish-brown, the subterminal one much 

 wider, the feathers tipped with whitish; throat, dull 

 ocher; rest of under parts, whitish tinged with pale 

 brown or pale yellow ; the breast, narrowly but boldly 



crossed with traverse bars of burnt umber or sepia, 

 sides and abdomen with large traverse wedge-shaped 

 spots of dusky and brown, under tail-coverts and thigh- 

 feathers faintly marked or immaculate; rufT. purplish- 

 black ; wing-coverts, a warm brown or cinnamon with 

 a narrow shaft streak of white; secondaries and prima- 

 ries, dusky, the former edged and tipped with yellowish- 

 white, the outside webs of latter with a number of 

 elongated spots of yellowish wliite. YoUNc: Similar 

 to a<liilt. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest; On the ground, in thickets, 

 dense underlirush, on the borders or in large woods, 

 alongside of a log or at the base of a large tree; con- 

 structed of old leaves, a few feathers, weed stems, 

 grass, and roots. E<;(,s : 6 to 15, usually 10 or 12, 

 varying from whitish through cream to a pale brown, 

 usually without spots but sometimes lightly speckled 

 with shades of brown. 



Distribution. — Kastern United States from Minne- 

 sota, Michigan, southern New York, and southern Ver- 

 mont south to eastern Kansas, northern Arkansas, 

 Tennessee, and Virginia, and in the Alleghenies to 

 northern Georgia. 



The bird called Partridge or Birch Partridge 

 in the North and Pheasant in some of the middle 

 and southern States is really a typical forest 

 Grouse. It is a hardy dweller in rough, cold 

 lands. Dark forests, rocky mountain sides, deep 

 thickets, and sheltered swamps are its favorite 

 hiding places in summer or winter. It likes the 

 dim and silent woods, far from the haunts of 

 man, but will tolerate his presence if only he 

 leave intact the stately trees ; it is no lover of 

 open plains and where the woods are destroyed 

 it soon disappears. 



Most country boys in the northern United 

 States well remember their first experience in 

 the w-oods with this brave and hardy bird. No 

 sound of the forest is more startling than the 

 sudden thunderous roar of beating pinions with 

 which it rises, soinetimes almost from under 

 foot, scattering the fallen leaves like a little 

 whirlwind, tearing its way through rustling 

 leaves and bending twigs, winning distance and 

 concealment in one breathless instant. A stir- 

 ring dash, a swirl of leaves and it is gone, leav- 

 ing the slow, blundering human biped startled 

 and staring with open mouth and fast-beating 

 heart. It is not necessary for this Grotise to 

 rise with such bluster for it can fly and alight as 



quietly as most birds, but the sudden whir speaks 

 eloquently of fear and is the bird's method of 

 escaping quickly, confounding its enemies, and 

 sounding the alarm to its coni])anions in danger. 

 Often the swift bird escapes before the startled 

 gunner has fairly caught sight of it. 



The four recognized races of this Grouse — 

 the Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa itmhcUus umbellus), 

 the Canada Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus 

 togata), the Gray Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa um- 

 bellus umbclloidcs), and the Oregon Ruffed 

 Grouse (Bonasa umbellus sabini) — extend the 

 range of the species over much of the wooded 

 regions of the United States and Canada and it 

 is known more widely than most other game 

 birds, but its habits can hardly be said to be 

 so well known, as wherever it is much hunted 

 it becomes extremely shy and suspicious, and 

 some of its ways are, even now, the subject of 

 dispute. Probably no otic man has lived long 

 enough to learn all its wiles. Its wildness in 

 settled regions is the more remarkable when we 

 realize that when the first explorers came to this 

 country this Grouse had so little fear of man- 

 kind that it would sit on a low limb gazing curi- 

 ously at the intruder and could be killed with a 

 stick. Only a few years ago in the great un- 



