THE OREGON NATURALIST 



winter small birds and ptarmigan. This 

 owl's manner OT hunting is to sit on the 

 very top of a high tree and from there 

 swoop down upon any moving object. 



The writer is well aware that it has 

 several times been stated that this owl 

 does not l<ili the ptarmigan but only preys 

 on wounded birds; yet I have actually sec;n 

 one of these birds strike down a ptarmiga^i 

 which to all appearances was m j^iooa 

 health and most assuredly was in full 

 flight at the time, and many were met 

 with feeding on freshly killed birds. 



BERNARD J. BRETHER fON. 



N. O. A. WORK. 



Owing to the absence of most of the mem- 

 bers, during the summer, the monthly meetings 

 will be postponed during July and August. 



At the regular meeUng m May the following 

 article by Ellis F. Hadley of Dayton, Or., was 

 read : 



THE OREGON RUFFED GROl'SE. 



The Oregon ruffed grouse also called red 

 ruffed grouse, timber pheasant, partridge and 

 Oiegon pheasant, was one of our commone=t 

 game birds along the streams, and in the thick 

 timber of Western Oregon. 



It is a very fine game bird and of fine flavoi ; 

 sj-'ortsman have killed so many about here, 

 that they are becoming scarce, some say that 

 the Mongolian pheasants are driving them 



away, by breaking their eggs and killing their 

 young, but I have never seen anything to in- 

 dicate this, but have found nests containing 

 eggs of both birds, and the ruffed grouse was 

 in possession of the nest each time. 



The Oregon ruffed grouse is darker and has 

 more of a red color, than the ruffed grouse of 

 the East. In comparing it with the sooty 

 grouse, I find, that it is a much smaller bird, 

 bnghter in color, and is generally found nearer 

 water, and drums instead of hoots. It also 

 differs from the sooty grouse in that it feeds, 

 mostly on the ground the year round instead 

 of going up into the big fir-trees to spend the 

 winter months as the socty grouse does. 



They are generally found on low land, a 

 river bottom or along some small creek, but in 

 t.mes of high water, they will go to higher 

 ground. I have often seen them when the 

 water IS high, in some small tree or bush, when 

 the water was several feet deep under them, 

 and around them for half a mile. In a boat, 

 at su'ch times, one can row right under the 

 liird, or within a few feet of it. A great many 

 :'ie killed along the river bottoms in this way 

 by hunters. 



About March first the malts begm drum- 

 ming. The sound is made uy the bird, while 

 on some old log, by striking the sides of its 

 b.jdy with rapid .strokes of its wings; the nose 

 .'sounds like distant ihunder. .Sei t. 4, 1895 

 while out hunting 1 heard .nnd saw nn Oregon 

 rufted grouse <lrumming. 



In the fall the young are very tame. I have 

 often seen tht-m on top of houses and .n grape 

 vines in the yard. 



Their food consists of insects, berries, grapes, 

 wild crab-apples, wild rose-berries and mush- 

 rooms. I have often seen them fee<\ on each 

 of the above, have also killed them in the 

 winter, when their crop contained nothino- but 

 liizel catkins. 



Nesting time is Ajiril, May. and June, the 

 nesis are made on the ground, in a hollow 

 made by the bird, by a bush, under a brush 

 heap, fallen tree top or under a small pole; 



