405 



CANACE CANADENSIS, VAR. CANADENSIS (Linn). 



SPRUCE PARTRIDGE : CANADA GROUSE. 



Specific Character. — Tail of sixteen feathers, prevailing colour in male blacky 

 feathers above banded with plumbeous, beneath uniform black with a pectoral 

 band of white and white on the sides of the belly. Chin and throat above, black. 

 Tail, with a broad brownish-orange terminal band. A coloured (red or yellow) 

 comb of naked skin over the eye. Length, 16.20; wing, 6.70 ; tail, .5.44. 



Female smaller but somewhat similar, the black bars above broader, the 

 inner gray bars of each feather, including the tail, replaced by broader ones of 

 brownish orange. The under parts have the feathers black barred with brown- 

 ish orange, which, on the tips of the belly feathers, is pure white. The clear, 

 continuous black of the head and breast is wanting. The scapulars, greater 

 coverts and sides are streaked, as in the male. 



Habitat. — Spruce forests and swamps of the northern United States and 

 Canada, to the Arctic sea, west nearly to the Rocky Mountains. 



Habits. — This very pretty grouse although formerly tolerably common over 

 the greater part of Ontario, is now only found resident and breeding in the 

 northern portions, seldom being seen further south than Muskoka. It is generally 

 found in flocks of eight or ten, and when on the ground is said to resemble in its 

 movements our common quail, rather than the Ruffed grouse. When disturbed 

 they take to the trees, where they act so stupidly that it is said they may be 

 taken by slipping a noose fastened to the end of a stick over the head, or knocked 

 down one after another until all are killed. 



Their breeding habits are much the same as those of other members of this 

 family ; when the love season arrives, the male is in his best plumage and puts on 

 his best manners before his lady love, strutting about on the ground like a turkey 

 cock, occasionally rising in a spiral manner above her in the air, then dropping 

 on the ground again, beats his wings violently against his body, producing a sort 

 of drumming sound much like that of a Ruffed grouse. The female constructs a 

 nest an the ground generally under the low branches of some fir tree, the eggs 

 are said to number from eight to eighteen and are described by Audubon as of a 

 deep fawn colour, irregularly splashed with different tints of brown. They have 

 only one brood in the season and the little ones are strong and active and follow 

 the mother as soon as they leave the shell. 



This grouse feeds in summer on berries of various kinds, as well as upon the- 

 buds and leaves of various plants, at this season their flesh is best for food. In 

 the winter they feed upon the buds of spruce and firs, and then as a friend of 

 mine once said, you might as well try to eat a piece of cooked pine board. 



