158 NOTES ON THE 



DENDRAGAPUS CANADENSIS (L). (298.) 



CANADA GROUSE. 



The lumbermen of the forests east and north of Brainerd, 

 for years before I ever obtained one, repeatedly told of a 

 "patridge" in logging sections that was different from those 

 we ordinarily see. 



By a good fortune, two Canada Grouse were sent to my 

 taxidermist, Mr. Wm. Howling, to be mounted many years ago, 

 one of each sex, which I had ample opportunity to examine. 

 Since then many more have reached me through the same 

 channel, and I have myself procured several. They are per- 

 manent residents of the northern half of the State, scattering 

 individuals reaching a south line of its habitat about sixty 

 miles northeast of Minneapolis. It is said to be a very dull, 

 stupid Grouse, easily obtained by almost any ignoble means 

 which lumbermen and Indian boys may adopt, and conse 

 quently subject to exceptional destruction where desired for 

 food. The flesh is not as desirable as the Ruffed or Pinnated 

 Grouse, yet the Indians of the section where it has most 

 abounded have made them relatively quite scarce of late years. 

 But as a whole, it is a common species in the sections named, 

 and not at all confined to the spruce swamps as we have been 

 informed hitherto. Its nest, consisting of moss and leaves, is 

 on the ground, with less effort at concealment than the other 

 members of the family manifested in the evergreen swamps of 

 the regions they inhabit, and are rather easily found. The 

 eggs, said to be about the same in number as those of the 

 Ruffed Grouse, are a dirty-cream color, blotched considerably 

 with dark-brown. Their note is described as a suppressed 

 cluck. Langille says of this species: "It is the aristocrat of 

 the family, stepping daintily on its moss-covered and deeply- 

 shaded apartments, feeding in the summer on such berries as 

 may be found in the forest, and in winter being content with 

 even the leaves of the evergreens."* 



In his excellent report to me of the birds of Otter Tail, 

 Aitkin and Mille Lacs counties, Mr. Washburn says of this 

 grouse: ' 'This bird was reported to me as common north of the 

 centre of the State, and in the northeastern part. In Otter 

 Tail county, there being no pine or spruce, I did not expect to 

 find it, but was much disappointed in not meeting with it at 



*Birds in their Haunts, p. 409. 



