GROUSE 273 



with white and more or less washed with pale rufous. L., 15*00; W., 6*50; 

 T., 475; B. frpm N., '40. 



Range. Man., s. Ont., and N. B., s. to n. parts of Minn., Wise., Mich. ; 

 N. Y., and New England. 



Nest, on the ground, sheltered by overhanging limbs. Eggs, 9-16, buffy 

 or pale brownish, more or less speckled or spotted with deep brown, 1*71 x 

 1'22 (Ridgw.). Date, Kentville, N. S., June 2. 



The excessive tameness of this inhabitant of swampy, coniferous 

 forests is responsible for its decrease in numbers, and it is now a rare 

 bird in the United States. "In April and early May the males strut 

 and drum somewhat after the manner of the Ruffed Grouse, the sound 

 resembling the distant roll of thunder. It is usually produced when 

 the cock is fluttering up an inclined tree trunk or a stump, and from this 

 ^levation to the ground again, or sometimes by merely springing into 

 the air for several feet and fluttering to the ground" (Eaton). 



1911. HARDY, M., Journ. Me. Orn. Soc., 47-49 (habits in Maine). 



300. Bonasa umbellus umbellus (Linn.). RUFFED GROUSE. (Fig. 

 18.) Ad. d 1 . Prevailing color of the upperparts rufous, much variegated 

 with black, ochraceous, buffy, gray, and whitish; sides of the neck with 

 large tufts of broad, glossy black feathers ; tail varying from gray to rufous, 

 irregularly barred and mottled with black, a broad black or brownish band 

 near the end ; tip gray ; throat and breast ochraceous-buff, a broken blackish 

 band on the breast; rest of the underparts white, tinged with buffy and 

 barred with blackish or dark grayish brown, the bars indistinct on the breast 

 and belly, stronger on the sides. Ad. 9. Similar, but with the neck tufts 

 very small. L., 17'00; W., 7'25; T., 6'25; B. from N., '52. 



Range. E. U. S. from Minn., Mich., s. N. Y., and s. Vt., s. to e. Kans., 

 11. Ark., Tenn., and Va., and, in the Alleghanies, to n. Ga. 



Washington, not common P. R. Ossining, common P. R. Cambridge, 

 P. R., formerly very common. N. Ohio, rare P. R. Glen Ellyn, rare and 

 local P. R. 



Nest, a depression lined with leaves, at the base of a stump or tree, or 

 beneath brush. Eggs, 8-14, pale ochraceous-buff, 1'52 x 1*13. Date, 

 Chester Co., Pa., May 5; Ossining, N. Y., May 5; Portland, Conn., May 7; 

 Cambridge, May 15; se. Minn., May 3. 



Of all the characteristics of this superb game bird, its habit of 

 drumming is perhaps the most remarkable. This loud tattoo begins 

 with the measured thump of the big drum, then gradually changes 

 and dies away in the rumble of the kettle-drum. It may be briefly rep- 

 resented thus: Thump thump thump thump, thump; thump, 



thump-rup rup rup rup r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r. The sound is produced by 

 the male bird beating the air with his wings as he stands firmly braced 

 on some favorite low perch, and it is now quite well known to be the 

 call of the male to the female; an announcement that he is at the old 

 rendezvous a rendezvous that has perhaps served them for more than 

 one season, and a place that in time becomes so fraught with delight- 

 ful associations that even in autumn or winter the male, when he finds 

 himself in the vicinity, can not resist the temptation to mount his 

 wonted perch and vent his feelings in the rolling drum-beat that was 

 in springtime his song of love. But now, alas! there is no lady Grouse to 

 come, shy but responsive, at the sound of his reverberating summons. 



