194 



THE OOLOGIST 



RUFFED GROUSE 



By H. H. Johnson, Pittsfield, Maine 

 Mother said 'sit tight;' if not these 

 words it was something in Grouse lan- 

 guage that was so understood by a 

 number of very young Bonasa umbel- 

 lus, or it may have been Bonasa urn- 

 bellus togata, or worse yet, it may 

 have been new subspecies; for as 

 near as I can make it out, if you find 

 the bird on top of a hill it is one 

 species, where as if you flush the same 

 bird at the foot of the hill, it is 

 another; half way down it is a hybrid 

 I suppose. Bendire in his Life His- 

 tories of North American Birds writ- 

 ing of the Ruffed Grouse says, "In 

 the New England States north of Mas- 

 sachusetts it intergrades with B. urn- 

 bellus togata, the majority of the 

 specimens found throughout southern 

 Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and 

 northern New York being scarcely re- 

 ferable to either form, birds found in 

 the high lands approaching the 

 Canadian Ruffed Grouse, while those 

 in the valleys are nearer typical Bo- 

 nasa umbellus." 



I have shot Ruffed Grouse here in 

 both the light gray and dark brown 

 plumage; hence we will use the local 

 name and just call it 'Partridge.' The 

 young Partridges were about the size 

 of a Song Sparrow minus the tail. 

 They were still in the yellow down ex- 

 cepting the flight feathers which were 

 not quite the length of the body, but 

 grown enough to allow the birds to 

 make a flight of a rod at a time. 



When I came upon them Mother 

 Partridge came fluttering toward me, 

 to detract my attention, at the same 

 time giving a warning to the young 

 which is best described as a whine. 

 After the young Partridges had scat- 

 tered in all directions except toward 

 me, I commenced to hunt for them, 

 looking in the small trees and bushes 

 at about the height of my head; know- 



ing that like well brought up children 

 they would mind Mother and sit tight 

 wherever they chanced to alight. 



I soon found one in a clump of gray- 

 birch bushes and about six feet up. It 

 chanced that this particular young 

 Partridge had not secured a good 

 perch, having to stand with one foot 

 very much higher than the other. 

 There it stood with its head up look- 

 ing straight ahead; I thought to move 

 in a circle around the bushes just to 

 see if it would turn its head to watch 

 me, but no, Mother said 'sit tight;' 

 even when I reached up and drew 

 down some branches in order to get 

 a clear view, it never moved in the 

 least. 



Mother Partridge still continued to 

 whine, but only once again it appeared 

 in sight, though she did not fly away 

 as she would had the young been 

 somewhat older and larger. 



Father Partridge, when I flushed 

 him soon afterward flew at once. I 

 left this young Partridge and searched 

 for another which I soon found in 

 another clump of birches; this one 

 set well, but when I reached up after 

 pulling away the branches, to take it 

 in my hand, it was more than it could 

 stand and at once flew to a place of 

 safety. I then left them and the dis- 

 tressed mother. I once flushed a 

 flock not so old as these; the young 

 could run but not fly. This time I 

 searched for them on the ground. 

 Mother Partridge was making a great 

 commotion among the leaves, thrash- 

 ing around and whining. These young 

 were harder to find; after some search 

 I found one completely hidden as the 

 young bird supposed, as it had its 

 head tucked well under a leaf, but all 

 the rest of the bodj^ exposed; yet it 

 was hard to find as it set tight, be- 

 sides being so near the color of the 

 leaves which covered the ground and 

 which the mother had well stored up. 



