RUFFED GROUSE PARTRIDGE 141 



Bonasa umbellus is above, reddish brown or grayish 

 brown, varied with black, brown and gray in different 

 shades, the scapulars and wing coverts streaked with 

 whitish or cream color, the rump and upper tail cov- 

 erts with long streaks or spots of grayish or yellowish. 

 Tail long and wide, gray or reddish, more or less band- 

 ed with paler, each pale band bordered by a narrow, 

 irregular blackish edge. A broad sub-terminal band of 

 black or dark brown near the end, followed by a nar- 

 rower terminal band of grayish. Feathers of the tufts 

 on the side of the neck the ruff usually broadest 

 at the ends, and black in color, sometimes with green- 

 ish reflections. Occasionally the ruff, instead of being 

 black, is dark brown, or even pale chestnut. The throat 

 is pale buff, sometimes dotted with darker. The lower 

 parts are whitish or yellowish, barred with dull brown, 

 broadest and darkest on the flanks. The lower tail 

 coverts are white-tipped. The female is similar to the 

 male, but smaller, and with the plumage slightly paler. 

 At the same time the plumage often fails to give any 

 suggestion of sex. There is a high-pointed crest on 

 the head. The lower portion of the tarsus that is, 

 of the foot is naked. 



This is a general description of the ruffed grouse. 

 The typical umbellus is described as mostly reddish 

 above. The sub-species, B. umbellus umbelloides, is 

 mostly gray, and has the tail always gray. It is re- 

 garded as the Rocky Mountain form. 



B. umbellus togata, the Canada ruffed grouse, is 



