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CANADA GROUSE. 



DANCING from the Pacific Coast at Kadiak in nortli- 

 western Alaska through the British Possessions to 

 the Atlantic Ocean, and from the Rocky Mountains east- 

 ward through the upper portion of the northern tier of 

 States in the Jnion, the Black Partridge, Spruce or 

 Canada Grouse as it is variously called, is one of the best 

 known, and, in the localities it frequents, one of the com- 

 monest members of the Family. It dwells in the tam- 

 arack swamps, or where the spruce and fir grow thickest, 

 and is tame and unsuspicious, permitting one to approach 

 within a few feet of it as it stands upon a limb or on the 

 ground, gazing at the intruder with fearless eye, perhaps 

 simply uttering a soft cluck, as it steps on one side to let 

 him pass. Many are caught by a noose fastened to the 

 end of a stick, the Grouse permitting this to be placed 

 around its neck without moving, when it is jerked off 

 its perch. I have seen birds push this noose aside with 

 their bills without changing their position, when through 

 awkwardness, or unsteadiness of hand on account of a 

 long reach, the noose had touched the bird's head but 

 had not slipped over it. 



This bird does not migrate, in the real sense of the 

 term, but may change its locality on account of the lack 

 or abundance of food in particular places, and it seems 

 able to withstand the severest weather; finding ample 

 shelter and protection from cold and storms in the dense 

 foliage of the trees amid which it lives, and subsistence 

 from the buds of the spruce, about their only food in 



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