150 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 







which names is,, strictly speaking, correct, as the bird is materially 

 different from both the Quail and Partridge of Europe. 



In the spring we hear the clear,, sharp whistle of the male from 

 which the name "Bob White" is taken. The birds are then paired and 

 busy with their nest or young. By autumn the whole family is asso- 

 ciated in a "covey/' roosting on the ground in the grass, and taking 

 wing very suddenly when approached. 



The Bob White is best known to the gunner, but the farmer has 

 good cause to know him and protect him. He is a famous insect eater, 

 and among the species which he habitually devours are the Potato 

 beetle and Chinch bug, two of our worst pests. 



Family TETRAONID-flS. 



THE GROUSE. 



a. Tarsus feathered down to the toes. HEATH HEX, p. 151 



aa. Tarsus feathered above, bare below. RUFFED GROUSE, p. 150 



300 Bonasa umbellus (Linnaeus). 

 Ruffed Grouse, Pheasant. 



PLATE 27. 



Adult male. Length, 15.50-19. Wing, 7-7.50. Above, rufous, streaked and 

 mottled with black, buff and gray ; a tuft of glossy black feathers on each side 

 of the neck ; tail sometimes gray, sometimes rusty red ; a broad subterminal 

 black band and numerous narrower bands and vermiculations ; below, pale buff, 

 or nearly white, barred with dusky, and with more or less black across the 

 breast. 



Adult female. Similar, but neck tufts much smaller. 



Nest a hollow among dead leaves, usually at the base of a tree ; eggs, eight 

 to twelve, pale buff, 1.55 x 1.15. 



Resident, but common only, in the wilder and thickly wooded dis- 

 tricts. The Ruffed Grouse the "Partridge" of the northern States 

 and "Pheasant" of the South is a bird equally as misnamed as the 

 Bob White, so far as these popular terms are concerned. It is a wood- 

 land species, and in the spring the males may be heard producing 

 their curious booming sound known as drumming. During the per- 



