RUFFED GROUSE 



121 



and Middle States, and, in the Southern States it is named the 

 Pheasant. The multiplication of names that this species has at- 

 tained has caused considerable confusion, in regard to which Dr. 

 Coues says : 



" It is somewhat singular that a misapprehension should subsist, 

 even among well-informed persons, in regard to this species. The 

 confusion in the minds of some is, doubtless, partly due to the fact 

 that the bird goes under different names in different parts of the 

 country ; and we are often asked, is it a Partridge, or is it a Pheas- 

 ant? — to which reply may be made that it is neither, but a Grouse. 

 4 Pheasant' is a name of a variety of birds of the family Phasian- 

 ida, indigenous to Southern Asia, and not represented in this 

 country at all. The best known species is that one long ago in- 

 troduced into England, and there thoroughly naturalized. (The 

 nearest American representative of the Pheasants is the Wild Tur- 

 key, which is sometimes included in the family PhasianidcB.) 

 < Partridge ' is the name of a group of small gallinaceous birds, 

 which, like the Phasianidcs, belong exclusively to the Old World, 

 our American Partridges, so called, being quite a different set of 

 birds. A poverty of our language in the matter of names of va- 

 rious American birds has caused them to become known by some 

 term really belonging only to their (real or supposed) nearest Eu- 

 ropean relatives. It would simplify matters much, to discard al- 

 together the terms ' Pheasant' and ' Partridge,' by which this spe- 

 cies is known in, respectively, the Northern and Southern States, 

 and call it by its proper name of ' Ruffed Grouse.' The. bird it- 

 self is unmistakable ; no other species has the conspicuous ruffle 

 of lengthened, broad, soft, silky feathers on the neck ; and the 

 only other species with any feathery neck-appendages is the Pin- 

 nated Grouse, where the appendages are like little wings of nar- 

 row, straight, pointed feathers. The Ruffed Grouse may be con- 

 founded by some with the Canada Grouse, or ' Spruce Partridge' 

 ( Tetrao canadensis) , but this has no lengthened feathers on the 

 neck, and is otherwise entirety different." 



Parker Gilmore's account of this species, in his " Prairie and 

 Forest," a valuable work, descriptive of the game of Noith Amer- 

 ica, says : 



" This worthy member of a noble family loves the woodland 

 glades and rocky hill-sides. The verge of the prairie he may oc- 

 casionally visit, but let him be disturbed, his fears excited, like 

 arrow from bow he will wing his way direct to the friendly shelter 

 of the forest. But all woods do not suit the fastidious taste of this - 

 beauty ; for when there exists only the fat, damp, slimy, bottom- - 

 lands, that margin so many of the southwestern rivers, he is not " 

 to be found. No, rolling country and hilly spurs are his home, 

 where, deep in the shelter of the laurel, cedar, hemlock, hazel, 

 and birch, he can laugh at his pursuers, unless they are the very 

 quickest and best of shots. But I allude to where he has known 

 m'an, and learned to dread his presence as ominous of evil; for, 

 where such is not the case, if flushed, they are often satisfied to 

 settle upon the first tree in the neighborhood, regarding the in- 

 truder with looks of wonder, and remain, gratifying their excited 

 curiosity, till the whole covey have been shot in detail. Through- 

 out Canada West they are numerous. At the northern end of 

 Lake Simcoe I found them very abundant; also on the hillsides 

 that cradle in the lovely, peaceful Lake Umbagog, in Oxford 

 county, Maine ; but western Maryland and Virginia are also favor- 

 ite haunts; in fact, it may be found everywhere where wood, 

 water, and hillside combine to form for it a suitable haunt, between 

 thirty-two and fifty degrees of north latitude. 



" In April, these birds pair. . . . They lay from ten to six- 

 teen eggs ; their nest, which is a very primitive one, being gener- 

 ally secreted in brush, or under the shelter of a fallen log. They 

 are most affectionate parents, and use the same artifices as the 

 Wild Duck to draw away the intruder from the vicinity of their 

 youthful progeny. This Grouse has two distinct calls, one a 

 soft, mellow, prolonged note, generally used in gathering after the 

 covey has been broken up ; the other, an extraordinary drumming 



sound, made by the cocks in the pairing season, and capable of 

 being heard, in still weather, a great distance. The latter noise 

 is caused by the rapid vibration of the wings when the male is 

 perched on a fallen tree or stump. Indiscriminately, they live on 

 a great variety of food — ants, grubs, alder-berries, wild cherries, 

 and grain, being their favorite diet. Early in autumn, when the 

 weather is fine, particularly in the morning and evening, they will 

 be found in the open cultivation, more especially if there be rough 

 ground with brush in the vicinity ; but as severe weather ap- 

 proaches, the woods will become their constant resort. In shoot- 

 ing the Ruffed Grouse, great difficulty is always experienced in 

 marking them. Their flight, as I have previously said, is won- 

 derfully rapid, and they have a method of doubling back in the 

 reverse direction to which they started ; however, as. they do not 

 generally go far (about three or four hundred yards), with pa- 

 tience and a selection of the nearest irregular ground which has 

 growing timber upon it, or the densest brush that is in the neigh- 

 borhood, a second opportunity will probably occur of bringing 

 more of the family to a bag. In many portions of the United 

 States and Canada they are known by the misnomers of Partridge 

 and Pheasant. Frequently, when trout fishing in the wilds of the 

 State of Maine, I have come suddenly upon them, when they would 

 rise into the nearest tree, and remain with unconcern watching me : 

 from evident curiosity, they would stretch their necks, and get into 

 all kinds of grotesque attitudes ; and so little would they then re- 

 gard the report of a gun, that I have known pot-hunters kill quite 

 a number of the same family by always shooting the lowest first. 

 But when the Ruffed Grouse becomes familiar with man, he is 

 perfectly cognizant of the danger of being in his proximity. Al- 

 though before dogs they lie close, their color harmonizes so well 

 with that of the ground, that it is next to impossible to see them 

 before they are on the wing. 



" In the undergrowth which springs up in that portion of the 

 country where the timber has been destroyed by fire, I ever found 

 them very abundant, it being almost impossible to wander half a 

 mile through such openings without flushing a covey. As these 

 generally occur in the lumber regions, where the winters are par- 

 ticularly long and rigorous, far exceeding in severity those of 

 Scotland, the hardiness of this bird can not be doubted. In the 

 Alleghanies and all the southern ranges of hills of the United 

 States it is also abundant, where, if the winters are less severe, 

 the heat in summer is sometimes excessive, proving that the Ruffed 

 Grouse is capable of enduring great varieties of climate. 



" The palate of the most fastidious epicure can not fail to be 

 gratified with the appearance of this game on the table, the flesh 

 being extremely delicate, with a strong flavor of our Red Grouse. 

 I have eaten it cooked in every conceivable manner, and whether 

 it be simply roasted over a camp-fire, or form a portion of an 

 omnium gatherum stew, it will be found alike acceptable. Al- 

 though scarcity of food may compel this Grouse to change its 

 beat, still it is not migratory, as stated by some naturalists. The 

 supposition has arisen from their being found in great numbers, 

 during summer and autumn, on the scrub barren land, which they 

 leave as soon as the more severe weather commences, for the 

 shelter of the dense timber. A family of these birds I was ac- 

 quainted with for a year. On their range .there was an abundance 

 of food and water, and during that period I could always find them, 

 their home being a little, hilly island in the prairie, covered with 

 timber and brush, and detached from any irregular land by sev- 

 eral miles of grass. 



" Some authorities have placed Woodcock shooting first in the 

 list, and called it the fox-hunting of those pleasures in which the 

 dog and gun form the chief accessories. As far as present Brit- 

 ish field-sports are concerned, I believe they are correct ; but, 

 should the Ruffed Grouse be introduced, and Englishmen ex- 

 perience the suddenness of their rise, the velocity and irregularity 

 of their flight, the uncertainty of their movements, and the beaut}' 

 and size of this game when bagged, they would assuredly insert 



