VII 



THE NORTH AMERICAN GROUSE 



• 



SEVERAL years ago I suggested that the Ameri- 

 can grouse might properly be divided into two 

 classes — (i) the grouse of the open country and (2) the 

 grouse of the w^oods and mountains. The classifica- 

 tion is not of course ornithological, but sportsmanlike, 

 since the grouse of the open country all lie better to 

 the dogs than the grouse of the woods, and are dis- 

 tinguished from the wood-grouse in other ways, impor- 

 tant to sportsmen, as we shall observe later. Many 

 grouse are listed in the check list, which are so much 

 like others as to be distinguished with difficulty. 

 When the pattern and markings are the same, and the 

 habits of the species and sub-species are identical, and 

 the only difference is a slight variation of the general 

 color, the birds may be, and are, regarded as the same by 

 sportsmen. The sub-species of ruffed-grouse — for ex- 

 ample, the Canadian ruffed-grouse, the gray ruffed- 

 grouse, and the Oregon or Sabines ruffed-grouse — are the 

 same in pattern and markings and have the same habits, 

 and the sportsman is right in regarding them as iden- 

 tical. The great ornithologist, Coues, says: ** They 

 are ruffed-grouse, each and all of them, and we may 

 ignore the varieties, unless we desire to be very pre- 

 cise.** Any attempt to portray these sub-species in 

 black and white fails. They all appear exactly alike, 



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