102 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS GROUSE 



the ruffed-grouse of New England, when they may be 

 regarded as desirable game. 



Audubon and Forester differ as to the table qualities 

 of this bird. Audubon regards the flesh as edible only 

 when the birds have fed on berries, and says in winter, 

 when it feeds on the leaves of trees and other plants, 

 the flesh is quite bitter and disagreeable. Forester 

 says he has eaten it only in winter, and while he 

 admits the almost resinous aromatic bitterness he 

 pronounces it delicious in the extreme. The con- 

 troversy on this point is similar to that over the sage- 

 cock and other birds whose flesh is affected to a marked 

 degree by their food. No doubt, late in the winter, 

 when he has subsisted solely on spruce buds, the flesh 

 of this grouse will prove unpleasant and unpalatable. 

 When the spruce is but a part of his diet, the flavor, I 

 can well imagine, is not objectionable, since I can stand 

 a decided trace of the sage in the flesh of the sage- 

 grouse, provided always he be young and tender. 



