DIFFERENTIAL POINTS: 
The eggs under consideration are so characteristic in size, shape, ground-color, and markings, that 
identification is easy. When compared with the eggs of the Ruffed Grouse, they are seen to be larger, 
darker in ground-color, and generally more or less speckled ; differences which are material and striking. 
REMARKS: 
The three eggs illustrated, Fig. 3, Plate LXIII, were taken in Indian Territory. They are said 
to represent the average sizes, shapes, ground-colors, and markings. 
The following is copied from “North American Birds,” page 444. “The young broods when come 
upon suddenly and taken by surprise, instantly scatter and squat close to the ground, so that, without 
a dog, it is impossible to find them. The mother gives a single loud chuck as a signal of danger, and 
the young birds rise on the wing and fly a few yards in different directions, and then keep themselves 
perfectly still and quiet until the mother recalls them by a signal, indicating that the peril has passed. 
In the meanwhile she resorts to various devices to draw the intruder away from the place. 
“ The Pinnated Grouse is said to be easily tamed, and may be readily domesticated, though I do 
not know that the experiment has been thoroughly tried. Mr. Audubon once kept sixty of them in a 
garden near Henderson, Kentucky. Within a week they became tame enough to allow him to approach 
them without being frightened. He supplied them with abundance of corn and other food. In the course 
of the winter they became so gentle as to feed from his hand, and walked about his garden like so 
many tame fowl, mingling occasionally with the poultry. In the spring they strutted, ‘ tootted,’ and 
fought as if in their wild state. Many eggs were deposited, and a number of young birds were hatched 
out; but they proved so destructive to the vegetables that the experiment was given up and the Grouse 
were killed. The male birds were conspicuous for their courage, and would engage in contest with the 
Turkey cocks, and even with the dunghill cock, rather than yield the ground.’’ 
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