THE RUFFED GROUSE 23 
in the thick growth and tall timber which made 
his winter home. 
The burrowing habit is common to nearly all 
northern grouse. With this species it is more 
common in the extreme northern part of its 
range, where the snowfall is heavier and the 
snow itself less likely to ‘‘crust.’’ 
Rocky, birch-clad hillsides, deep ravines 
with tangles of brush and slender streams wind- 
ing through their depths,—the thickest, most 
impenetrable cover that the woods afford— 
these are their favorite spots. A finer game 
bird, a brainier dweller in the wilds it is hard 
to find. All the more so when he has made the 
acquaintance of Nimrod and his hammerless 
gun. This for the bird near civilization, for. 
if we believe all we hear. of him in the ‘“‘big 
woods’’ we shall have small respect for his 
judgment. Still, we must make due allowance 
in ‘‘a hunter’s yarn,’’ which, as we know, gives 
us ‘‘the truth, the whole truth,’’—and as much 
more as we can swallow. 
About April they begin to mate and the 
woods resound with the ‘‘long roll’’ of the male, 
‘‘drumming’’ his serenade to the lady of his 
