The Canadian Ruffed Grouse 145 



ruffed grouse, the writer confesses his inability to 

 distinguish between the two birds, either by a 

 grayer cast of plumage, measurements, or for that 

 matter by any reliable marking or lack of mark- 

 ing. He has shot hundreds of them, all told, 

 which were natives of every Canadian province 

 except one, and he could no more swear to their 

 identity as B. u. togata, as distinct from B. um- 

 bellus, than he could swear how many times they 

 had been missed before he happened to hold on 

 the right spot. An open confession is good for 

 the soul, and he will further confess that he 

 believes the shrewdest bird-sharp of them all 

 couldn't tell which from tother, not even if he 

 first picked them feather by feather and then ate 

 them at his scientific ease. 



As chief magistrate pro tern., I have sentenced 

 grouse to be shot, hung, drawn (both ways), and 

 quartered (halved is better as it insures a squarer 

 deal in the matter of dressing) ; I have bagged 

 "smoky tufts," black tufts, brown tufts, and no 

 tufts ; gray tails, grayish brown tails, and reddish 

 brown tails ; I have had all but one of them in the 

 same bag, and killed a brown tail with one barrel 

 and a gray tail with the other ; and after a careful 

 consideration of the case my decision is, " The 

 ruffed grouse is subject to considerable variation 

 in plumage, said variation not being thoroughly 

 understood by this or any other court." 



