CANADA GROUSE. 173 



SUBGENUS CANACHITES STEJNEGER. 

 DENDRAGAPUS CANADENSIS (LiNN.). 



128. Canada Grouse. (298) 



Adult male: Tail, of sixteen feathers, rounded, black, with an orange- 

 brown bar at the end ; prevailing color, black, barred and spotted with white 

 on the lower parts, and above, crossed with wavy lines of tawny and gray. 

 Female: Smaller, variegated all over with black, brown, white and tawny; 

 tail bar, as in the male, but less decided. Length, 16; wing, 7; tail, 5.50. 



HAB. British America, east of the Rocky Mountains, from Alaska south to 

 northern Michigan, northern New York and northern New England. 



Nest, on the ground in secluded places, well concealed, built of twigs, 

 leaves, moss and grass. 



Eggs, twelve to fourteen, creamy -brown, sometimes dotted or blotched with 

 a darker shade. 



When young birds of different species are cast loose from parental 

 oversight, and go out into the world on their own account, they are 

 often very erratic in their movements, are frequently found in places 

 where they have no business to be, and sometimes thereby come 

 to grief. 



It was from some such cause as this that I once got a specimen of 

 the Canada Grouse in the Hamilton market. It was in the month 

 of October that a farmer had seen this small dark-colored bird in 

 company with some Ruffed Grouse, and, following them up, had 

 singled it out as something new. They are not known to breed any- 

 where near Hamilton, but are common in the picturesque district of 

 Muskoka, between Georgian Bay and the Ottawa River, where they 

 breed and are resident. 



The)'- breed also in suitable places throughout the North-West, 

 and with regard to Alaska, Mr. Nelson says : " This handsome Grouse 

 is found throughout the wooded portion of Alaska, extending to the 

 shores of Behring Sea, at the points where the spruce forests reach 

 the vicinity of tide-water. It is more numerous, however, in the 

 interior and along the upper portion of the Yukon. It is perma- 

 nently resident wherever found." 



They are plump, handsome little birds, but for the table are not 

 equal to the Quail or the Ruffed Grouse. 



