753 



IiKi'ouT OF State Geologist. 



811UAMILV TETKAONIN.K. Ciitoi-E. 

 ti.!. Gkni':* liONASA Stkphkks. 



121. (oOO). Bonasa umbellus (Linn.). 



Ruffed Grouse. 



Head of Ruffed Grouse, natural size. 



AdiiU Male. — Variegated reddish or grayish-brown; the back, with 

 minierous obkmg, pale, black-edged spots; neck-tufts, glossy-black; 

 below, whitish, barred with brown; tail, varying from gray to rufous, 

 with a broad subterniinal black zone, and tipped with gray. Fe- 

 male. — Similar, but neck-tui'ts very small. 



Length, 15.50-19.00; wing, 7.00-7.50; tiiil, 5.50-7.00. 



Range. — Eastern United States west to Great Plains, from South 

 Carolina and Arkansas to Minnesota, Vermont and Ontario. 



Nest, a hollow in ground, lined with leaves or grass. Eggs, 8-14; 

 milky-white to pinkish-buff, often with round spots of pale reddish- 

 brown or drab; 1.58 by 1.18. 



Resident. Breeds. The Ruffed Grouse is found in var}'ing abim- 

 dance throughout the State. It is a bird of the forest. Where there 

 is the most forest, other things being equal, are to be found the most 

 Grouse. Some places, where the woods are permitted to remain, they 

 are common. The rougher, less fertile, and the wet, poorly-drained 

 portions joi the State are where the most timber is to be foimd, and 

 there they are the most numerous. In the lower Whitewater Valley 

 they are still to be found in some numbers. 



The rougher hills covered with dense woods and underbrush are 

 the places where they live. Mr. L. H. Haymond thinks they are 

 nowhere to be met with in sueli numbers as in northern Indiana, 

 northern Ohio, ]\Iichigan and Wisconsin. While they prefer the dense 

 covert, they are occasionally found in buckwheat stubble, in the 



