RUFFED GROUSE—PARTRIDGE 155 
or even within a covered country bridge. At this time, 
too, they often fly against houses or fences, or through 
windows, opened or closed, and in this way many birds 
are killed. I have personal knowledge of three birds 
flying against houses, one against a fence and two 
through windows, opened or closed, on a single farm 
in Connecticut. 
A correspondent of Forest and Stream says: 
“Once while walking along the street I saw a grouse 
dusting in the roadway. At first I supposed it was a 
hen, but as I approached, ittrose, flew straight down the 
street and in at the opening of the large covered bridge 
that spanned the Mohawk. The bird lit on a beam near 
the roof. Getting up to the beam I took the bird off. 
He remained perfectly motionless, as is their habit 
when approached by man. This grouse when he rose 
in the roadway made comparatively little noise. . . .” 
The same writer says: “I recollect an incident that 
occurred in our city where a grouse flew into a small 
barn and perched on a beam. The owner of the prem- 
ises having invited a gentleman into the barn on some 
business, the guest said to the owner: ‘I see you keep 
poultry.’ ‘No,’ said the owner, ‘I keep no poultry, but 
my neighbors do, and I wish they would come and 
take that pullet away. She has been here now 
three or four days and I am tired of feeding her.’ The 
visitor looked a little more sharply and said: ‘That is 
not a pullet; that is a partridge’; and so it was, to the 
great surprise of the other.” 
The food of the ruffed grouse is very varied. In 
