386 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



CHAPTER V. 

 THE GAME-BIRDS. (SEE 29.) 



30. Tetraonidao. Grouse. 

 I. TETRAO (CANACE) 



(A) CANADENSis. 1 Canada Grouse. " Spruce Partridge." 



(A resident of northern New England, but in Massachusetts 

 accidental.) 



(a). About sixteen inches long. <, black; waved with a 

 paler shade above, and extensively edged on the breast and 

 sides with white. "Eye-brow" red. Head and wings with a 

 few white markings. Tail, usually of sixteen feathers, and 

 broadly tipped with orange-brown. Brown markings sometimes 

 occur elsewhere in the male, and in the female are persistently 

 numerous. 



(b). The eggs, which are laid upon the ground, are described 

 by Mr. Samuels as " of a beautiful yellowish-buff color, with 

 spots and blotches of two shades of brown : one a purplish- 

 brown ; the other, a burnt sienna." In size they differ but 

 little from those of the Ruffed Grouse. 



(c). The Canada Grouse are common residents in many 

 parts of northern New England, especially Northern Maine, 

 but in Massachusetts they are of accidental occurrence, and I 

 find records of only two captures in this State, one u in the 

 hemlock woods of Gloucester, in September, 1851, another at 

 .Roxbury." These birds are rare among the White Mountains, 

 so far as I know, as I have but occasionally seen them there. 



1 The White or Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus oftws) is said to occur as a winter 

 visitant in Northern New England. At this time it is characterized by the pure 

 white plumage, and its black confined to the tail. In summer it is marked with 

 black and browns. It is about sixteen inches long. An allied but "rather 

 smaller " species, confined to Arctic America, has a slenderer bill, and, in the male, 

 a black eye-stripe. The ptarmigans have feathered toes. 



N. B. The Wild Turkey has for many years been exterminated in New Eng- 

 land. 



