310 SPOTTED GROUSE. 



of but sixteen broad and rounded feathers, and may be at once dis- 

 tinguished 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 lonasia, from which 

 it difiiers 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 plains and low grounds, though in other parts of America 

 it is found on mountains, even of great elevation. It inhabits Canada 

 in winter, and was seen byVieillot in great numbers during the month 

 of October in Nova Scotia. Lewis and Clark met with it on the 

 elevated range of the Rocky Mountains, and brought back from their 

 western expedition a male specimen and deposited it in the Philadelphia 

 Museum, where it was long exhibited under the name of Louisiana 

 Grouse. This, as truly observed by Say, first entitled it to rank among 

 the birds of the United States. But the Rocky Mountains are not the 

 only region of ^the United States territory where the Spotted Grouse is 

 found. We have traced it with certainty as a winter visitant of the 

 northern extremity of Maine, Michigan, and even of the- state of New 

 York ; where, though very rare, it is found in the counties of Lewis and 

 Jefferson. 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 Grouse is known by the 

 various names of Wood Partridge, Swamp Partridge, Cedar Partridge, 

 and Spruce Partridge. The American settlers of Canada distinguish it 

 by the first. In Michigan and New York it goes generally by the 

 second. In Maine it bears the third, and in other parts of New England, 

 New Brunswick, &c., more properly the last. We have been informed 

 by General 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 indebted for the information 

 which his interest for science has induced him voluntarily to furnish, 

 further mentions, that he has heard from his father that during the 

 progress of the expedition under Arnold through the wilderness to 

 Quebec in 1775, these Grouse were occasionally shot between the tide 

 waters of Kennebec river and the sources of the Chaudi^re, now form- 

 ing part of the state of Maine. Fine specimens of the Spotted Grouse 

 have been sent to the Lyceum of Natural History of New York from 

 the Sault de Ste. Marie, by Mr. Schoolcraft, whose exertions in avail- 

 ing himself of the opportunities which his residence afi"ords him for the 

 advancement of every branch of zoology, merit the highest praise. He 



