i86 A Bit of Grouse Hunter's Lore. 



is held in the proper light. The very 

 large birds with iridescent black ruffs are 

 usually cocks, although it is frequently 

 difficult to find any marks of differentia- 

 tion -in plumage which will distinguish 

 them from hens, and hunters are very 

 often mistaken as to the sex of any par- 

 ticular ruffed grouse. The best test with- 

 out dissection is perhaps that afforded by 

 spreading the tail to its full extent. If 

 the two external tail feathers can be 

 brought into a straight line with each 

 other before the other feathers of the tail 

 separate from each other at the margins, 

 the possessor of that tail is in all proba- 

 bility a male bird. The feathers of the 

 tail of the hen bird usually separate from 

 each other while the two external tail 

 feathers are making an obtuse angle. It 

 is customary for hunters to suppose that 

 the birds with brown or chocolate-colored 

 ruffs are females, but the color of the ruff 

 is not a distinctive sex mark. 



The general coloration of ruffed grouse 

 varies greatly in different localities, the 

 " partridges" from northern New Eng- 



