

RUFFED GROUSE PARTRIDGE 143 



it is called "birch partridge," in contradistinction to 

 the Canada grouse, called "spruce partridge." 



The grouse spend the winter in thick, deep swamps, 

 or else on steep hillsides in sections where evergreens 

 grow, which give protection from the snow, in dense 

 runs, and white birch and other thickets. 



Life is easy for the birds, which wander about over 

 their limited range, scratching, when the snow is not 

 too deep, for the fruit of the skunk cabbage, for the 

 fruit and leaves of wintergreen and partridge berry and 

 arbutus, for hibernating insects, for nuts overlooked 

 in autumn by themselves and the squirrels; or, if the 

 ground is deeply snow-covered and ice-bound, taking 

 to the tree-tops, where they glean a plenteous harvest 

 of buds, and usually come out in spring strong and well 

 nourished. At Lake George, New York, the grouse 

 feed extensively on the buds of ironwood, poplar, birch 

 and apple, from late October to early April, irrespective 

 of the snowfall. An hour or two before sunset they 

 fly to the trees and gorge on the buds and catkins. 



In New England and the Middle States the mating 

 time comes in early April, after the weather has grown 

 warm and the grass and flowers have begun to spring. 

 By this time the grouse has begun to sound his drum- 

 ming call. In a country where grouse are plenty you 

 may hear the sound from a hundred hills, but you will 

 find it a difficult matter to trace it to its source, and 

 when you approach the place from which you thought 

 it came, you will find it is no longer heard there, and 

 when it next reaches your ear it seems a long way off. 



