CHAPTER VI. 



THE RUFFED GROUSE. 



The ruffed grouse — General description— Size and weight — Various 

 names— DiflBcult of domestication— Favorite haunts— Few liilled 

 — How the males woo — Their drumming— Deceptive character 

 of the sound— Theories on the drumming— Drumming season — 

 The grouse considered a weather prophet — Severe contests be- 

 tween the males— Feathered Knights and fair Helenas— Nests and 

 eggs — Careful mothers — Pretentious cripples — Males are polyga- 

 mous — Ruffed grouse never pack— Best time for shooting them — 

 Wild in winter — Burrowing in the snow — How they are hunted— 

 Best dogs for working them — Attachment of the males to the 

 drumming logs — Different varieties of grouse — Abundance of the 

 ruffed grouse on the Pacific Coast — Large numbers netted — The 

 common form of trap — Lake Tahoe — Its wonders— Heavy trout — 

 Profusion of wild fowl — A Western hunter — A fire hunt — A pug- 

 nacious stag — A young drummer — A squirrel's congress— A 

 startled doe — How a grizzly was killed — Utility of a field-glass in 

 searching for grouse— Our success with the birds. 



The ruffed grouse {Bonasa umhellus), which is found 

 throughout Canada and the United States, from Hudson 

 Bay to Texas, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, 

 derives its name of Bonasa, or httle bull, from the sup- 

 posed resemblance between its booming and the bellow- 

 ing of a bull. This species may be readily recognized by 

 the large ruffs of long, broad feathers on the neck, it be- 

 ing the only one of the wood grouse that wears them. It 

 has a horn-colored bill, which is black at the tip; the 

 irides are brown; and the tail, which is moderately round- 

 ed, is composed of eighteen broad, truncated feathers, 

 about seven inches long. This grouse is devoid of the 

 gular sacs; and the comb-like processes visible over the 

 eyes of its congeners are replaced by a row of short, stif- 

 fisli feathers. The hue of the body varies much in dif- 

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