BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 375 



crops by weeds in this country is estimated at many millions. 

 How much of this loss might be saved by the conservation 

 of Bob-white! 



Grouse. 



The Grouse (family TetraonidcE) is a large and interesting 

 one. The true Grouse are confined to the northern hemisphere, 

 and the family reaches its highest development in North 

 America, which is particularly well supplied with species. 

 Grouse are chiefly birds of northern or temperate regions. The 

 various species have become so well adapted to varying con- 

 ditions that treeless arctic wastes, barren mountains, deep 

 forests, brushy plains, prairies, fertile cultivated lands and 

 sandy deserts all have their Grouse. They are found in most 

 of North America, except in the more southern parts and in 

 regions where they have been extirpated by man. 



Birds of this family have the head feathered, excepting 

 usually a bare patch, strip or "comb," over the eye, and often 

 crested; the legs, and often the feet, more or less feathered; 

 the sides of the neck often with modified, ruffed or crestlike 

 feathers, or bare spaces of skin, or both. The plumage is 

 commonly subdued in tint, for the most part, and the sexes 

 are usually, but not always, similar in color. All things con- 

 sidered. Grouse are the choicest of our game birds, and they 

 now furnish the greater part of our upland shooting. The 

 two species which are native to the Atlantic seaboard are 

 regarded as the most valuable of the family in America. 



CANADA SPRUCE PARTRIDGE (Canachites canadensis canace). 

 Common or local names : Spruce Partridge ; Swamp Partridge ; Black Grouse. 



Length. — 15 to 17 inches. 



Adult Male. — Barred with black and gray above in transverse wavy cres- 

 cents; throat and breast black; rest of under parts black; many of 

 the feathers bordered or tipped with much white; tail black, tipped 

 with reddish brown or deep orange yellow; a line of bare skin above the 

 eye, bright red. 



Adult Female. — Smaller; barred with black, gray and pale rusty above; 

 general tone rufous brown; whitish below, barred with black. 



