AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



85 



SPOTTED GROUS. 



TETRAO CANADENSIS. 



[Plate VIII. Vol. 3.— half size.] 



Tetrao Canadensis, Ch. Bonaparte's American Orni- 

 thology, Vol. in. p. 47, pi. xxi. — Linn, Syst. i. p. 207. 

 sp. 3. — Gmel. Syst. i. p. 749, sp. 3. — Lath. Ind. p. 

 637, sp. 6. — Forster, in Phil. Trans, lxii. p. 389. — 

 Temm. Ind. Gall, in Hist. Pig. et Gall. in. p. 702. — 

 Vieill. Novio. Diet. Hist. Nat. — Sabine, Zool. app. 

 Frank. Exp. p. 683. — Nob. Cat. birds, U. S. sp. 207. 

 Id. Syn. Birds, U. S. sp. 108. 



Lagopus Bonasa Freti Hudsonis, Briss. Orn. i. p. 

 201. sp. 6. — Klein. Av. p. 117, sp. 6. — La Gelinolte du 

 Canada, Buff. Ois. n. p. 279. — Black and Spotted 

 Heath Cock, Edw. Glean. p. 71, pi. IIS. — Brotvnand 

 Spotted Heath Cock, Ellis. Hudson Bay, i. t. p. 50. 



Spotted Grous, Penn. Arct. Zool. sp. 182, Lath. Syn. 

 iv. p. 735, sp. 6. In Suppl. p. 214. — The small 

 Speckled Pheasant, Lewis and Clark Exp. n. p. 182. 

 — Philadelphia Museum. 



"The Spotted Grous," says M. Bonaparte, "is well 

 characterized by its much rounded tail of but sixteen 

 broad and rounded feathers, and may be at once distin- 

 guished from all others by the large and conspicuous 

 white spots, ornamenting the breast, flanks, and under 

 tail-coverts. 



"It has been inaccurately compared with the European 

 Tetrao bonasia, from which it differs very materially, not 

 even being of the same subgenus, and approaching nearer, 

 if indeed it can be compared with any, to the Tetrao 

 urogallus. 



" This bird is common at Hudson's Bay throughout 

 the year — there frequenting the plains and low grounds, 

 though in other parts of America it is found on moun- 

 tains, even of great elevation. It inhabits Canada in win- 

 ter, and was seen by Vieillot in great numbers, during 

 the month of October, in Nova Scotia. Lewis and Clark 

 met with it on the elevated range of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, and brought back from their western expedition a 

 male specimen, now deposited in the Philadelphia 

 Museum, where it has been long exhibited under the 

 name of Louisiana Grous. This, as truly observed by 

 Say, first entitled it to rank among birds of the United 

 States. But the Rocky Mountains are not the only re- 

 gion of the United States territory where the Spotted 

 Grous is found. We have traced it with certainty as a 

 winter visitant of the northern extremity of Maine, Michi- 

 gan, and even the state of New- York; where, though 



Y 



very rare, it is found in the counties of Lewis and Jeffer- 

 son. On the frontiers of Maine it is abundant, and has 

 been seen by Professor Holmes of the Gardiner Lyceum, 

 near Lake Umbagog, and others. In these countries the 

 Spotted Grous is known by the various names of Wood 

 Partridge, Swamp Partridge, Cedar Partridge, and 

 Spruce Partridge. The American settlers of Canada dis- 

 tinguish it by the first. In Michigan and New- York 

 it generally goes by the second. In Maine it bears the 

 third ; and in other parts of New-England, New-Bruns- 

 wick, &c., more properly the last. We have been inform- 

 ed by Gen. Henry A. S. Dearborn, that they are sent 

 from Nova Scotia and New-Brunswick to Boston in a 

 frozen state ; as in the north they are known to be so kept 

 hanging throughout the winter, and when wanted for use, 

 they need only be taken down and placed in cold water 

 to thaw. General Dearborn, to whom we are much in- 

 debted for the information which his interest for science 

 has induced him voluntarily to furnish, mentions, that he 

 has heard from his father, during the progress of the 

 expedition under Arnold through the wilderness to Que- 

 bec in 1775, these Grous were occasionally shot between 

 the tide waters of the Kennebeck river, and the sources 

 of the Chaudiere, now forming part of the state of Maine. 

 Five specimens of the Spotted Grous have been sent to 

 the Lyceum of Natural History of New- York from the 

 Sault de ste Marie, by Mr. Schoolcraft, whose exertions in 

 availing himself of the opportunities which his residence 

 affords him for the advancement of every branch of 

 Zoology, merits the highest praise. He informs us that 

 this bird is common from Lake Huron to the sources of 

 the Mississippi, being called in the Chipeway language 

 Mushcodasee, i. e. Partridge of the Plains. 



" The favourite haunts of the Spotted Grous are pine 

 woods, and dark cedar swamps; in winter resorting to 

 the deep forests of spruce to feed on the tops and leaves 

 of these ever-greens, as well as on the seeds contained in 

 their cones, and on juniper berries. Hence their flesh, 

 though at all times good, is much better in summer, as in 

 winter it has a strong flavour of spruce. At Hudson's 

 Bay, where they are called indifferently Wood or Spruce 

 Partridge, they are seen throughout the year. Like other 

 Grous, they build on the ground, laying perhaps seven 

 eggs; these are white, yellow, and black. They are easily 

 approached, being unsuspicious, and by no means so shy 

 as the common Ruffed Grous, and are killed or trapped 

 in numbers without much artifice being necessary for this 

 purpose. When much disturbed, like their kindred species, 

 they are apt to resort to trees, where, by using the pre- 

 caution of always shooting the lowest, the whole terrified 

 flock may be brought down to the last bird. 



