CANADA GROUSE, SPRUCE PARTRIDGE 133 



circular motions of the head from side to side; he 

 will remain in this position two or three minutes at 

 a time. He is a most beautiful bird, and shows by 

 his actions that he is perfectly aware of the fact. 



"As the spring and summer advance, the food given 

 these Canada grouse must be changed with the season, 

 and it is only with a perfect knowledge of their wants, 

 and with constant care, that they can be safely carried 

 through the heat of the summer and the moulting sea- 

 son. In the nesting season the females are very quar- 

 relsome, and at this time more than two or three can- 

 not be kept in the same pen, but in July they may be all 

 turned together again and they will agree very well 

 until the following March." 



The winter food of the Canada grouse is chiefly 

 leaves and buds of spruce and tamarack. In spring, 

 when insects make their appearance, no doubt they feed 

 largely on them and on the leaves of various plants, 

 while at the ripening of the berries these are eaten. 



Little or nothing is said by writers generally about 

 the gathering together of these birds in great flocks, 

 yet, like many other species of our grouse, at certain 

 seasons of the year they seem to unite in great com- 

 panies. Major Bendire quotes Manly Hardy, of 

 Brewer, Maine, as saying: "A Micmac Indian, whom 

 I consider reliable, tells me of having seen a pack of 

 many thousands, somewhere east of Halifax, Nova 

 Scotia, on which their whole village lived for weeks, 

 moving after them when they moved. The males 

 greatly preponderate over the females, at least two to 



