640 



North American Grouse. 



The ruffed grouse lives abundantly from New Brunswick to the 

 prairies of the West, from Canada to the Southern States, — keeping 

 in the South to the high or mountainous lands. It is the most noble 

 and alert of all the grouse family. The shape of its body and the 

 pose of its head indicate robustness, both in walking and flying, and 

 wonderful quickness in observation. Its small crested head turns 

 with constant vigilance, and its full brown eye 

 is expressive of great power of vision, and seems 

 to reflect the landscape immediately after death. 

 Its wings are short and curved, beating the air 

 with great rapidity and giving it an exceedingly 

 rapid flight. Once, breakfasting above New- 

 burgh, on the Hudson, at a country house 

 where heavy plate glass windows extended to 

 the floor, we heard a heavy blow on the window. 

 Running out, we found a cock grouse lying dead 

 on the lawn. A glance at the window revealed 

 the cause ; the room was dark within and the 

 window reflected all the landscape, and the bird 

 crossing over to its covert flew into the mirrored 

 copse with such speed as to kill it instantly. 



The length of the bird is about eighteen 

 inches, — its full weight twenty-two ounces. Its 

 color is light brown, mottled with darker brown 

 or black. It wears a slight crest, which it 

 can elevate at pleasure. Its tail is short and 

 rounded, with a nearly continuous black bar 

 crossing it near the tip. Its legs are feathered 

 with a hairy feather, and are well proportioned, 



