CANADA GROUSE. 
ANGING from the Pacific Coast at Kadiak in north- 
western Alaska through the British Possessions to 
the Atlantic Ocean, and from the Rocky Mountains east- 
ward through the upper portion of the northern tier of 
States in the Union, the Black Partridge, Spruce or 
Canada Grouse as it is variously called, is one of the best 
known, and, in the localities it frequents, one of the com- 
monest members of the Family. It dwells in the tam- 
arack swamps, or where the spruce and fir grow thickest, 
and is tame and unsuspicious, permitting one to approach 
within a few feet of it as it stands upon a limb or on the 
ground, gazing at the intruder with fearless eye, perhaps 
simply uttering a soft cluck, as it steps on one side to let 
him pass. Many are caught by a noose fastened to the 
end of a stick, the Grouse permitting this to be placed 
around its neck without moving, when it is jerked off 
its perch. I have seen birds push this noose aside with 
their bills without changing their position, when through 
awkwardness, or unsteadiness of hand on account of a 
long reach, the noose had touched the bird’s head but 
had not slipped over it. 
This bird does not migrate, in the real sense of the 
term, but may change its locality on account of the lack 
or abundance of food in particular places, and it seems 
able to withstand the severest weather; finding ample 
shelter and protection from cold and storms in the dense 
foliage of the trees amid which it lives, and subsistence 
from the buds of the spruce, about their only food in 
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