250 
RUFFED GROUSE. 
of the United States, and appears to inhabit a very extensive 
range of country. It is common at Moose Fort, on Hudson’s 
Bay, in lat. 51°; is frequent in the upper parts of Georgia; 
very abundant in Kentucky and the Indiana territory ; and 
was found by Captains Lewis and Clarke in crossing the great 
range of mountains that divide the waters of the Columbia and 
Missouri, more than three thousand miles, by their measure- 
ment, from the mouth of the latter. Its favourite places of 
resort are high mountains, covered with the balsam pine, 
hemlock, and such like evergreens. Unlike the Pinnated 
Grouse, it always prefers the woods ; is seldom or never found 
in open plains ; but loves the pine-sheltered declivities of 
mountains near streams of water. This great difference of 
disposition in two species, whose food seems to be nearly the 
same, is very extraordinary. In those open plains called the 
Barrens of Kentucky, the Pinnated Grouse was seen in great 
numbers, but none of the Ruffed ; while, -in the high groves 
with which that singular tract of country is interspersed, the 
latter, or Pheasant, was frequently met with ; but not a single 
individual of the former. 
The native haunts of the Pheasant being a cold, high, 
mountainous, and woody country, it is natural to expect that, 
as we descend from thence to the sea shores, and the low, flat, 
and warm climate of the southern states, these birds should 
become more rare ; and such indeed is the case. In the lower 
parts of Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, they are very seldom 
observed ; but, as we advance inland to the mountains, they 
again make their appearance. In the lower parts of New 
Jersey, we indeed occasionally meet with them ; but this is 
owing to the more northerly situation of the country ; for even 
here they are far less numerous than among the mountains. 
Dr Turton, and several other English writers, have spoken 
of a Long-tailed Grouse, said to inhabit the back parts of 
Virginia, which can be no other than the present species, there 
being, as far as I am acquainted, only these two, the Ruffed 
and Pinnated Grouse, found native within the United States. 
The manners of the Pheasant are solitary ; they are seldom 
