200 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



away and left them there. Those seen by me at Sunkhaze, a 

 few miles from Oldtown though in a region frequently visited 

 by the hunters, were so tame as to appear stupid. 



They feed on the buds of fir, spruce, hackmatack, birch, 

 poplar and other trees, and like blackberries, blueberries and 

 the fruit of Gaultheria, Mitchella and similar wild fruits very 

 much indeed. They also eat a few beetles and other insects 

 during the summer. 



The nest is always on the ground usually at the foot of a tree 

 or under a bush in rather dense evergreen woods, and is a mere 

 aggregation of leaves and mosses shaped out by the bird. The 

 eggs are of a bufFy or reddish brown color, more or less spotted 

 and blotched with reddish brown and umber, the spots being 

 well distributed over the surface, and the eggs are indeed very 

 handsome. Eight to fourteen are usually laid and they measure 

 about 1.68 X 1.18. 



Genus BONASA Stephens. 



300a. Bonasa umbellus togata (Linn.). Canadian Ruffed 

 Grouse ; Partridge ; Pheasant. 



Plumage of adult male : prevailing color of the upper parts grayish^ 

 variegated with black, rufous, ochraceous, buffy and whitish ; sides of neck 

 each with a tuft of broad glossy black or sometimes reddish bronze colored 

 feathers ; tail of varying mixtures of gray and rufous, or occasionally with 

 either shade predominating to the practical exclusion of the other and barred 

 and mottled with black ; a broad brownish or blackish subterminal bar at 

 end of tail, the feathers tipped with grayish ; throat and breast ochraceous 

 buff, the feathers of throat more or less narrowly edged with blackish and 

 those of breast with still more well defined edgings ; a more or less well 

 defined blackish band on breast ; rest of under parts white, strongly barred 

 with black, grayish brown or hair brown of varying shades of intensity in 

 different individuals ; bars always stronger on or towards sides than on breast 

 and belly. Plumage of adult female : neck tufts smaller than in male ; sub- 

 terminal tail band generally averaging narrower and somewhat interrupted. 

 Immature plumage: very similar but neck tufts poorly developed or only 

 slightly indicated, developing more and more according to age ; feathers of 

 chest and breast spotted with blackish, producing a striped appearance to 

 some degree. Downy young: a black stripe from rear of eye across ear 



