406 



BONASA UMDELLUS, VAR. UMBELLUS (Stephens). 



RUFFED GROUSE : PARTRIDGE : PHEASANT. 



Specific Character. — Above, ochraceous brown, finely mottled with grayish ; 

 the scapulars and wing coverts with pale shaft streaks, the rump and under tail 

 •coverts with medial cordate spots of pale grayish. Tail, rufous, narrowly barred 

 with black, crossed terminally with a narrow band of pale ash, then a broader one 

 of black, this preceded by another ashy one. (In specimens from the Alleghany 

 Mountains and New England States, the tail is usually more or less grayish to 

 the base, sometimes entirely destitute of the rufous tinge). Lower parts white, 

 yellowish beneath surface, with broad transverse bars of dilute brown, these 

 mostly concealed on the abdomen. Throat and foveneck ochraceous. The 

 feathers of the crown can be raised as a crest. Neck tufts, glossy black. 



Length, 18.00 inches; wing, 7.20 ; tail, 7.00. Female smaller and with the 

 neck tufts less developed, but the colours similar. 



Habitat. — Eastern part of North America from Georgia to Nova Scotia and 

 from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains. Richardson in his description of its 

 habits says, that he met with it as far north as the 56th parallel of latitude. This 

 well-known Grouse is still found over almost the whole of Ontario, but within 

 the last few years its. numbers are sadly diminished. This is the more to be 

 regretted as it is without doubt the best game bird of the Province. This Grouse 

 is a constant resident, and as ageneral rule is in no sense migratory, unless as the re- 

 sult of bush fires or a scarcity of food it may be induced thereby to shift its grounds 

 a few miles. It is very fond of rough mountain and hill sides and the borders of 

 rivers and small streams, in fact it is to be found wherever wooded country is to 

 be met with. In Ontario we have both the rufous and grayish tailed birds if they 

 may be called varieties ; in other respects they seem alike and are found in the 

 same covers. This bird when flushed, usually flies in a straight line but seldom 

 ior more than a few hundred yards at a time, when it alights, generally on the 

 ground, and if followed will often be found to lie very close allowing the sports- 

 man to pass within a few feet of it, when if it finds itself discovered it rises 

 suddenly with a loud whirring noise, enough to disconcert the steadiest shot, 

 who, if not on the alert, will be sure to find that his bird has almost instantly 

 placed a bush or tree between them, and his chance of adding to his bag gone. 

 When they light upon a tree they can be followed and more easily shot, and it is in 

 this way that the pot-hunter makes such bags with his little dog trained to " tree 

 patridge," that is, to follow them, chiefly by sight, and to bark at the foot of the 

 tree till the hunter sneaks up and shoots the poor bird as it sits staring at the 

 dog. On almost every other occasion it is a cunning, wary bird, strong on wing 

 and hard to shoot, and if hunted in a sportsmanlike way, with a good setter or 

 pointer, affords good sport. 



The Grouse is more or less polygamous and the love season commences early 

 in March, and is indicated by the drumming of the male birds. This sound is 

 produced by the male bird only, who standing on a fallen log or on an elevated 

 rock in a retired part of the woods, erects himself, expands his tail, and seems to 

 inflate his whole body, then bringing his wings forward slowly at first, he beats the 

 air with them in a rapid, vibratory motion, thus producing a sound which resembles 

 the distant and closing reverberations caused by remote thunder, and seems to the 

 listener much nearer than it really is. It has long been a disputed question as to 

 how the bird produces the peculiar sounds, but on more than one occasion 



