64 



LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



ai. Bonasa umbellus togata 



CANADIAN RUFFED GROUSE. 



Til run Intjnlnft LINNAEUS, Systema Naturae, ed. 12, 1766, 27o. 



nn<tftn iunMhi.fi loijiiln RIDOWAY, Proceedings U. S. National Museum, vm, 

 1885, 355. 



(B , C , R , C, - U 300o.) 



GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE: British Columbia, Washington and Oregon, excepting 

 tin- coast districts, and from Idaho north and eastward to James Bay (Moose Fac- 

 tory). northern and central Maine and Nova Scotia; south occasionally in the moun- 

 tains of New England and northern New York. 



This race inhabits and breeds in the wooded districts from the mouth 

 of the St. Lawrence River, westward through central and northern Maine and 

 thence throughout the British possessions to the eastern slopes of the Cascade 

 Range in Washington and Oregon, as far south at least as Fort Klamath, close 

 to the boundary line of California. On the western slopes of the Bitter Root 

 Mountains it reenters the United States, and is the typical form found through- 

 out northern and middle Idaho, Oregon, and Washington east of the Cascades. 

 Thence it ranges northward along the eastern spurs of the Fraser River and 

 Cariboo Mountains to Fort St. James, Stewart Lake, New Caledonia district, in 

 British Columbia, where it is common to about latitude 56, and probably still 

 further north in this direction. 



In the central Rocky Mountain region the range of the Canadian Ruffed 

 Grouse is locally intercepted by the southern extension of that of B. umbellus 

 ninMhidi'fi, the latter being more of an Alpine form, and seemingly restricted to 

 the mountainous sections. 



The habits of this race are very similar to those of the common Ruffed 

 Grouse. Throughout Canada and the British possessions it is better known 

 by the name of Partridge and Birch Partridge. 



Mr. Ernest E. Thompson, of Toronto, Canada, has kindly placed his field 

 notes on this race at my disposal, and I make the following extracts from 

 them: "Every field man must be acquainted with the simulation of lame- 

 ness, by which many birds decoy or try to decoy intruders from their nests. 

 This is an invariable device of the Partridge, and I have no doubt that it is 

 quite successful with the natural foes of the bird, indeed it is often so with 

 man. A dog, as I have often seen, is certain to be misled and duped, and 

 then- is little doubt that a mink, skunk, raccoon, fox, coyote, or wolf, 

 would tare no better. Imagine the effect of the bird's tactics on a prowl- 

 ing fox; he lias scented her as she sets, he is almost upon her, but. she has 

 been watching him, and suddenly with a loud 'whirr' she springs up and 

 tumbles a few yards before him. The suddenness and noise with which the 

 bird appears causes the fox to be totally carried away; he forgets all his 

 former experience, he never thinks of the eggs, his mind is filled with the 



