76 FKANK FORESTER S FIELD SPORTS. 



to different woods, when they are more shy and wary than dur- 

 ing the love season or the winter. 



" This species walks much in the manner of our Partridge. 

 I never saw one jerk its tail, as the Ruffed Grouse does ; nor do 

 they burrow in the snow, like that bird, but usually resort to 

 'trees, to save themselves from their pursuers. They seldom 

 move from thence at the barking of a dog ; and, when roused, 

 fly only to a short distance, uttering a few chicksj which they 

 repeat on alighting. In general, when a flock is discovered, 

 each individual forming it may be easily caught ; for, so seldom 

 do they see men in the secluded places they inhabit, that they 

 do not seem to be aware of the hostile propensities of the race, 

 " Along the shores of the Bay of Fundy, the Spruce Partridge 

 is much more common than the Ruffed Grouse ; which, indeed, 

 gradually becomes scarcer the farther north we proceed, and is 

 unknown in Labrador, where it is replaced by the Willow 

 Grouse, and two other species. The females of the Canada 

 Grouse differ materially in their coloring, in different latitudes. 

 In Maine, for instance, they are more richly colored than in La- 

 brador, where I observed that all the individuals procured by me 

 were of a much grayer hue than those shot near Dennisville. 

 The like difference is, perhaps, still more remarkable in the 

 Ruffed Grouse, which are so very gray and uniformly colored 

 in the Northern and Eastern States, as to induce almost every 

 person to consider them as of a species distinct from those found 

 in Kentucky, or any of the southern mountainous districts of the 

 Union. I have in my possession skins of both species, procured 

 a thousand miles apart, that present these remarkable differences 

 in the general hue of their plumage. 



" All the species of this genus indicate the approach of rainy 

 weather or a snow storm with far more precision than the best 

 barometer ; for, on the afternoon previous to the occurrence of 

 such weather, they all resort to their roosting-places earlier, by 

 . several hours, than they do during a continuation of fine wea- 

 ther. I have seen groups of Grouse flying up to their roosts at 

 mid-day, or as soon as the weather felt heavy, and have observed 



