GROUSE. 



GROUSE are beyond all question the finest game birds of 

 which we have any knowledge. They are large birds, of 

 delicate flavor, are swift flyers, often hard to hit, and above all 

 they give out a strong scent and usually lie well to a dog. The 

 true grouse are confined to the northern hemisphere, and attain 

 their greatest development in North America, no less than nine 

 well-marked species being natives of this country. This family 

 includes also, half a dozen species of Europe and Asia, the Cock 

 of the Woods {Tetrao urogallus), the analogue of our Sage Grouse 

 {Centrocercus urophasiaiitcs), the Black Cock {Tetrao tetrix), the 

 Siberian Pine Grouse {T. falcipetmis) the Bonasa befulina of 

 Europe and Asia, and several species of Ptarmigan closely related 

 to those of our own country. The Grouse may be distinguished 

 from any of their relatives by the more or less dense feathering of 

 the tarsus and the groove for the nostril, by the presence above 

 the eye of a strip of naked yellow or red skin, and by the pectinated 

 margins of the toes. In addition to these peculiarities several 

 species possess curious tufts of feathers on the side of the neck, 

 and some have under these feathers, air sacks which are capable 

 in the breeding season of great distention. 



Canace canadeTtsis. — Reich. Canada Grouse, Spruce Partridge. 



The Canada Grouse is a northern species nowhere very abun- 

 dant. Its favorite haunts are the dense swamps of Canada, Northern 

 Maine and the Adirondack region, where grow the pine, spruce 

 and tamarack, on the buds and leaves of which it feeds. These 

 swamps are so wet and soft, and the mud in them is so deep that 

 it is often impossible for man to traverse them ; the Canada Grouse, 

 however, runs lightly over the green moss which carpets the ground, 

 and is here secure from the pursuit of any but winged enemies. 

 This species is therefore, scarcely or not at all hunted except during 

 the winter when the extreme cold of the regions which it inhabits 



