556 GAME BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA 



would doubtless bring adequate data. W. K. Fisher, (1902&, p. 132) 

 found a brood of downy chicks in heavy redwood forest north of 

 Mad River, Humboldt County, June 11, 1899. In the northern part 

 of its range this race begins to nest about the middle of April and 

 the season continues until some time in June. The earliest set 

 recorded was taken on April 14, and a set (probably a second lay- 

 ing) was secured June 28, 1876, on Vancouver Island (Bendire, 1892, 

 p. 69). 



The nest is usually placed in a sheltered situation, as under a 

 spruce or maple, or at the side of a fallen log or slightly overhanging 

 rock. A slight depression is scratched out and lined with grasses, 

 leaves, needles, or twigs; sometimes a few feathers from the female 

 are added. Dawson (1909, p. 589) says that 0,n average clutch of 

 eggs numbers eight or ten. Bendire (1892, p. 69) states that the eggs 

 number anywhere from seven to thirteen but that the eggs of the set 

 which he thought was of a second laying numbered only six. The 

 eggs are roundly ovate, thus proportionately shorter than the eggs 

 of the domestic fowl. They measure in inches, 1.50 to 1.73 by 1.14 to 

 1.24 and average 1.62 by 1.20 (twenty eggs). The ground color is 

 milky white to pinkish buff, and about half the eggs are rather spar- 

 ingly but uniformly marked with small rounded spots varying in color 

 from reddish brown to pale drab (Bendire, 1892, p. 63, referring to 

 the several races of the Ruffed Grouse). From the eggs of the Sierra 

 and Sooty grouse those of this species differ chiefly in size, being 

 decidedly smaller. 



After mating, the female alone attends to incubation and to rear- 

 ing of the chicks. Some observers believe this species to be polyga- 

 mous, one male serving several females and a single mating being 

 sufficient for a clutch. While the set is being laid, any interference 

 with the nest will cause the female to desert, and the same is true 

 during the early part of the period of incubation. Later, however, 

 she is not so easily disturbed. Often, if she be flushed directly from 

 the nest, the surrounding leaves and other debris are swept over the 

 eggs, and, if she has time, she will take pains to cover them herself 

 with material before quitting the vicinity. If a dog or a fox or other 

 predacious animal approaches the nest she will artfully lead away 

 the intruder a sufficient distance to save the eggs, using the lameness 

 and broken wing ruses most skillfully. When the chicks have hatched, 

 she will even go out to meet an intruder, to toll him away from the 

 brood. And in the case of a person she will often fly up toward his 

 body or face, presenting an altogether forbidding front. An obser- 

 vation of Swarth's (1912, p. 22) made on Vancouver Island, substan- 

 tiates the above general statements: "At Beaver Creek broods of 

 downy young began to appear during the second week in June, and 



