w 



104 



GAA/E BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



very active creatures and run with light feet over the 

 moss that carpets the swamps which are tlieir home. As 

 soon as they can fly they keep much among the hranchc s 

 of the trees, and always immediately take refuge there, if 

 disturbed when on the ground. In the summer and 

 autumn the Spruce Grouse, or Pcrdrix dc la Savannc, 

 as it is called by the llahitans or French-Canadians, 

 feed on berries and buds of various kinds, and at this time 

 they are in the best condition for the table. The crop 

 often contains numbers of small stones, swallowed as is 

 the habit of all gallinaceous birds to assist digestion or 

 grinding the food. It is a beautifully plumaged bird, 

 and is one of the most attractive objects of the dark, 

 gloomy, and usually silent woods of the far North. In 

 the northern part of New York State this Grouse is 

 scarce, but is more often met with in the New England 

 States, especially Maine, while in the West it is common 

 in the large forests of northern Minnesota, and increases 

 in numbers as one proceeds toward the Arctic regions 

 wherever the forests extend. 



CANACHITES CANADENSIS. 



Geographical Dtstn'bution.—YTom Kadiak, Alaska, through 

 British North America to the Atlantic Ocean, and from the east- 

 ern slopes of the Rocky Mountains through the northern tier of 

 States to the coast line of New York and New England. 



Adult Male. — Upper parts, gray, barred with black: wings, 

 usually light gray, mottled and barred with black and brown 

 tips, with central white streaks on scapulars, widening at the 

 tips; under parts, black, with a mottled black and white border 

 to the throat, and many of the feathers, espjepially on abdomen, 

 tipped with pure white; flanks, pale bro^'n, with irregular lonj;i- 

 tudinal black lines, and white streaks along the shafts, broaden- 

 ing at the tips; under tail-coverts, black tipped with white; upper 

 tail-coverts, black, mottled with brown and tipped with gray; 

 bill, black. Total length, about 14I inches; wings, 7; tail 5. 



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