104 GAME BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 
very active creatures and run with light feet over the 
moss that carpets the swamps which are their home. As 
soon as they*can fly they keep much among the branches 
of the trees, and always immediately take refuge there, if 
disturbed when on the ground. In the summer and 
autumn the Spruce Grouse, or Perdrix de la Savanne, 
as it is called by the Habitans or French-Canadians, 
feed on berries and buds of various kinds, and at this time 
they are in the best condition for the table. The crop 
often contains numbers of small stones, swallowed as is 
the habit of all gallinaceous birds to assist digestion or 
grinding the food. It is a beautifully plumaged bird, 
and is one of the most attractive objects of the dark, 
gloomy, and usually silent woods of the far North. In 
the northern part of New York State this Grouse is 
scarce, but is more often met with in the New England 
States, especially Maine, while in the West it is common 
in the large forests of northern Minnesota, and increases 
in numbers as one proceeds toward the Arctic regions 
wherever the forests extend. 
CANACHITES CANADENSIS. 
Geographical Distribution.—From Kadiak, Alaska, through 
British North America to the Atlantic Ocean, and from the east- 
ern slopes of the Rocky Mountains through the northern tier of 
States to the coast line of New York and New England. 
Adult Male.—Upper parts, gray, barred with black: wings, 
usually light gray, mottled and barred with black and brown 
tips, with central white streaks on scapulars, widening at the 
tips; under parts, black, with a mottled black and white border 
to the throat, and many of the feathers, especially on abdomen, 
tipped with pure white; flanks, pale brown, with irregular longi- 
tudinal black lines, and white streaks along the shafts, broaden- 
ing at the tips; under tail-coverts, black tipped with white; upper 
tail-coverts, black, mottled with brown and tipped with gray; 
bill, black. Total length, about 144 inches; wings, 7; tail 5. 
