FRANKLIN'S GROCTSE. 59 



James, on June 9 of the same year. The nest was merely a slight depres- 

 sion in the ground, and was lined with a few decayed leaves. Two of the 

 eggs contained well-formed embryos and the third was addled. 



Through the kindness of Mr. W. E. Traill, in charge of one of the Hud- 

 son Bay Company posts in British Columbia, parts of three sets of these rare 

 eggs, fifteen in number, were collected during the season of 1890; taken on 

 May 20, 27, and 30, respectively. The nests were shallow depressions in the 

 moss-covered ground, lined with bits of dry grass, and were placed at the 

 borders of spruce thickets. The eggs were fresh when found. They resemble 

 those of the Canada Grouse in shape, color, and markings, but average a trifle 

 smaller. 



The average size of twenty-three specimens in the U. S. National Museum 

 collection is 42 by 31 millimetres; the largest egg measuring 45 by 32.5, 

 the smallest 38.5 by 30 millimetres. As they are similar to those of the pre- 

 ceding species, none are figured. 



20. Bonasa umbellus (Linnaeus). 



RUFFED GROUSE. 



Tetrao umbellus Linnjeus, Systema Naturae, ed. 12, i, 1766, 275. 

 Bonasa umbellus Stephens, General Zoology, xi, 1819, 300. 



(B 465, C 385, R 473, C 565, U 300.) 



Geographical range: Eastern United States, west to edge of Great Plains (?); 

 north to Massachusetts (lowlands), Minnesota, southern Ontario, Canada; south to 

 northern South Carolina and northwestern Georgia (uplands), Tennessee, Arkansas, etc. 



The typical Ruffed Grouse or Partridge of the Northern States and the 

 Pheasant of the South, inhabits and breeds throughout the wooded sections of 

 the eastern United States, from Massachusetts westward, through New York, 

 Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the southeastern por- 

 tions of North and South Dakota, thence south through southeastern Nebraska 

 and Missouri, the mountainous regions of Arkansas, eastern Tennessee, western 

 North Carolina, northeastern Alabama, northwestern Georgia, and northern 

 South Carolina, as well as in the remaining States included within the bounda- 

 ries mentioned. Throughout its southern range the Ruffed Grouse is mostly 

 confined to the mountain regions, and is seldom if ever found in the lowlands 

 during the breeding season. In the New England States north of Massachu- 

 setts it intergrades with B. umbellus togata, the majority of the specimens found 

 throughout southern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and northern New 

 York being scarcely referable to either form, birds found in the high lands 

 approaching the Canadian Ruffed Grouse, while those in the valleys, are nearer 

 typical Bonasa umbellus. The Ruffed Grouse found in southern Ontario, Can- 

 ada, are referable to this race. 



