Descriptive List 



153 



The name Bob-white comes from the loud and clear two-noted whistle of the 

 male in the nesting season, when this most musical and far-reaching call may be 

 heard a long distance on a still day. When a covey has been scattered, a rallying 

 call of three notes is used. These latter are the calls most familiar to the hunter. 



25. FAMILY TETRAONID/E. GROUSE 



This family is composed of birds nearly allied to the preceding family, but 

 usually of greater size and more northern range. They may be distinguished by 

 having the tarsus and nasal fossse feathered, instead of naked as in the Bob-whites. 



Genus Bonasa (Steph.) 

 137. Bonasa umbellus umbellus {Linn.). Ruffed Geouse, "Pheasant." 



Description. — Head crested, fitles of iicek with a ruff of soft dark feathers; upperparts varied 

 with black, brown and gray, tail dusky with several narrow bands of black, a broad subterniinal 

 band of black, and a terminal one of grayish; lower parts whitish or buffy, marked with broad 

 bars of brown. Female smaller than male, with ruff on neck reduced in size or absent. L., 15.50 

 to 19.00; W., 7.00 to 7.50. (Chap., Birds of E. N. A.) 



Range. — Wooded regions of eastern United States, south in the mountains to northern Georgia. 



Range in North Carolina. — Resident in the mountain region. 



Fig. 115. RcFFED Grouse. 



Pig. 116. Foot op 

 Ruffed Grouse. 



The Ruffed Grouse is known in this State as "Pheasant." With us it is a bird 

 of the mountain region only, ranging chiefly above the twenty-five hundred-foot 

 level. 



Perhaps the most striking characteristic of this grouse is the habit the male has 

 of "drumming." It is the mating call to the female, or a challenge to a rival cock, 

 and few birds of like size possess a more distinctive and far-reaching one. Starting 

 with a slow, bass, drum-beat, the notes shorten rapidly until they end with the quick 

 roll of a kettle-drum. Through the Grouse's custom of frequently drumming while 

 perched on a log, it was formerly supposed that the sound proceeded from the 



