2d grouse and wild turkeys of united states. 
contrasted black and reddish brown colors, set oft' by innnaculate 
white. 
The ruft'ed grouse is one of the most hi<rhly prized of American 
game birds. It is known in New England as the ' partridge,' but in 
the Southern States it is usually called ' j^heasant.' It is distinctly 
a bird of the woods, imparting the spirit of the wilderness to every 
sylvan retreat that it inhabits. In Virginia and Maryland, near the 
city of AVashington, the species is, or was until recently, not uncom- 
mon along the rocky palisades of the Potomac and in deep gorges 
lined with laurel thickets. In P^ssex County, X. J., it frecj^uents tJie 
crest of a wooded basaltic dike known as the Orange Mountains, 
where the picturesque rocky woods with a good stand of deciduous 
trees and an undergrowth of blueberry, second-growth white oak, 
wild grape and bittersweet vines, and beds of partridge berry 
{Mitchella repens) furnish a congenial home. That ruft'ed grouse 
usually prefer deciduous to evergreen growths was particularly no- 
ticed hy the writer in 1892 and 1898 at Chocorua, X. H., a hamlet 
between Lake Winnepesaukee and the AAHiite Mountains. On his 
tramps through heavy spruce forests remote from houses or clear- 
ings he seldom came across grouse. He frequently met them, how- 
ever, in woodland near farms or in clearings, and particularly along 
wood roads. A favorite ground in August was the clearing of an 
abandoned farm, 200 feet above Chocorua Lake, which lies at the foot 
of Chocorua Mountain. The fields are separated from one another 
by little trout brooks and have grown up to young spruces. Here in 
bowlder-strewn pastures w^as an abundance of blackberries, blue- 
berries, and grasshoppers, with old apple trees, birches, and poplars 
for winter budding. On this old farm the writer never failed to flush 
from three to eight grouse, and on several occasions he saw hen birds 
with young. In a sandy spot of the road leading uj) to the house 
the grouse had dusting wallows, which they used habitually. Dur- 
ing October birds were often found in hemlock woods with an under- 
growth of osmunda ferns or other vegetation. 
The ruft'ed grouse does not congregate in large coveys, like the 
])luin(Ml (juails or the prairie chicken, but is found in companies of 
from two to eight, usually members of a single brood. It does not 
spend the night on the ground, but perches on a tree. When the 
weather is very cold, however, it often plunges into the snow and 
passes the night as snugly as an Eskimo in his igloo. 
The bobwhite whistles, the prairie chicken booms, and the blue 
grouse hoots, but the ruft'ed grouse drums. The drumming is one of 
the most interesting and attractive of all bird performances. It may 
be heard at every season, but is at its best in spring. The cock, then 
in full vigor, mounts his drumming log, droops hi? wings, raises his 
fantail, and struts along the log with his crest and glossy black neck 
