272 GROUSE 



31. FAMILY TETRAONID^B. GROUSE. (Fig. 44.) 



The Grouse, numbering some twenty-five species, inhabit the north- 

 ern parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Two species of Ptarmigan are 

 found throughout the Arctic regions, while the remaining species are 

 about equally divided between the Old World and the New. After the 

 nesting season they commonly gather in 'coveys' or bevies. In some 

 species, these bevies unite or 'pack,' forming large flocks. As a rule, 

 they are terrestrial, but may take to trees when flushed, while some 

 species habitually call and feed in trees. They are game birds par 

 excellence, and, trusting to the concealment afforded by their protective 

 coloration, attempt to avoid detection by hiding rather than by flying, 

 or, in sportsman's phraseology, "lie well to a dog." Their flight is rapid 

 and accompanied by a startling whirr, caused by the quick strokes of 

 their concave, stiff-feathered wings. Though not, as a rule, migratory, 

 or given to extended flights, their great weight as compared with their 

 wing-expanse, and the necessity of getting under way at once, requires 

 great strength, hence the exceptional development of the breast muscles 

 which constitute most of the edible portion of these universally esteemed 

 birds. 



Many species of this family are polygamous, and their strutting, 

 dancing or actual fighting, tootings, hootings, boomings, or drummings 

 make them among the most interesting of birds during their periods 

 of courtship display. 



The young, as with all Gallinaceous birds, are hatched thickly 

 covered with down, usually of a pronounced pattern, and leave the 

 nest soon after birth, generally under the care of the female alone. 

 Like the young of Terns, they instinctively squat at the warning note 

 of the parent, which then flutters painfully before one, using every 

 possible effort to draw one from the vicinity of her chicks. (For special 

 literature, see under preceding family.) 



298. Canachites canadensis canadensis (Linn.). HUDSONIAN 

 SPRUCE PARTRIDGE. Male indistinguishable from the male of C. c. canace; 

 female similar to female of canace but less rusty. 



Range. Boreal forest region from the e. base of the Rocky Mts. w. of 

 Edmonton, Alberta, e. to Lab. Peninsula; also a disconnected area in 

 Alaska from Bristol Bay to Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound. 



298c. C. c. canace (Linn.). CANADA SPRUCE PARTRIDGE. Ad. &. Upper- 

 parts barred with black, ashy, gray, and grayish brown; tertials and wing- 

 coverts irregularly marked with fuscous and grayish brown; tail black, 

 tipped with rufous; black throat separated from black breast by a broken 

 circular band of black and white and a band of same color as back of neck; 

 sides mottled with black and grayish brown, ends of the feathers with white 

 shaft streaks; rest of underparts black, broadly tipped with white, except 

 on middle of lower breast; bare skin above eye bright red in life. Ad.9. 

 Upperparts barred with black and pale rufous and tipped with ashy gray; 

 tail black, mottled and tipped with rufous; throat and upper breast barred 

 with pale rufous and black; sides mottled with black and pale rufous, ends 

 of feathers with white shaft streaks ; rest of underparts black, broadly tipped 



