RUFFED GROUSE. PARTRIDGE 



The ruffed grouse, or partridge of the north and pheasant 

 of the south, is properly a true grouse, and cannot be 

 correctly called either partridge or pheasant. 



CHAPMAN. Bird Life. 22 



Their way of scratching in the snow, resting their weight 

 on one foot and scratching with the other is like that of 

 the common hen, and their drumming is the finished per- 

 formance that is caricatured by chanticleer. Drumming 

 with the partridge is a joy. 



FLORENCE A. MERRIAM. Birds Through an Opera Glass. 2 



Who has seen the partridge drum? It is the next thing 

 to catching a weasel asleep, though by much caution and 

 tact it may be done. He selects not, as you would predict, 

 a dry and resinous log, but a decayed and crumbling one, 

 seeming to give the preference to old oak logs that are partly 

 blended with the soil .... He does not hug the log, 

 but stands very erect, expands his ruff, gives two intro- 

 ductory blows, pauses half a second, and then resumes, 

 striking faster and faster until the sound becomes a con- 

 tinuous, unbroken whir, the whole lasting less than half 

 a minute. 



BURROUGHS. Wake Robin. 5 



To find a hen grouse with young is a memorable ex- 

 perience. While the parent is giving us a lesson in mother- 

 love and bird intelligence, her downy chicks are teaching 

 us facts in protective coloration and heredity. How the 

 old one limps and flutters! She can barely drag herself 



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