RUFFED GROUSE—PARTRIDGE 143 
it is called “birch partridge,” in contradistinction to 
the Canada grouse, called “spruce partridge.” 
The grouse spend the winter in thick, deep swamps, 
or else on steep hillsides in sections where evergreens 
grow, which give protection from the snow, in dense 
runs, and white birch and other thickets. 
Life is easy for the birds, which wander about over 
their limited range, scratching, when the snow is not 
too deep, for the fruit of the skunk cabbage, for the 
fruit and leaves of wintergreen and partridge berry and 
arbutus, for hibernating insects, for nuts overlooked 
in autumn by themselves and the squirrels; or, if the 
ground is deeply snow-covered and ice-bound, taking 
to the tree-tops, where they glean a plenteous harvest 
of buds, and usually come out in spring strong and well 
nourished. At Lake George, New York, the grouse 
feed extensively on the buds of ironwood, poplar, birch 
and apple, from late October to early April, irrespective 
of the snowfall. An hour or two before sunset they 
fly to the trees and gorge on the buds and catkins. 
In New England and the Middle States the mating 
time comes in early April, after the weather has grown 
warm and the grass and flowers have begun to spring. 
By this time the grouse has begun to sound his drum- 
ming call. In a country where grouse are plenty you 
may hear the sound from a hundred hills, but you will 
find it a difficult matter to trace it to its source, and 
when you approach the place from which you thought 
it came, you will find it is no longer heard there, and 
when it next reaches your ear it seems a long way off. 
