496 
SPOTTED GROUSE. 
tail-coverts. It has been inaccurately compared with the Eu- 
ropean Tetrao honasia^ from which it differs very materially, 
not even bein^ of the same subgenus, and approaching nearer, 
if indeed it can be compared with any, to the Tetrao urogallus. 
This bird is common at Hudson’s Bay throughout the year, 
there frequenting plains and low grounds, though in other 
parts of America it is found on mountains, even of great ele- 
vation. It inhabits Canada in winter, and was seen by Vieil- 
lot in great numbers during the month of October, in Nova 
Scotia. Lewis and Clark met with it on the elevated range of 
the Rocky Mountains, and brought back from their western 
expedition a male specimen, now deposited in the Philadelphia 
Museum, where it has been long exhibited under the name of 
Louisiana grouse. This, as truly observed by Say, first enti- 
tled it to rank among the birds of the United States. But the 
Rocky Mountains are not the only region of the United States 
territory where the spotted grouse is found. We have traced 
it with certainty as a winter visitant of the northern extremity 
of Maine, Michigan, and even of the state of New York, 
where, though very rare, it is found in the counties of Lewis 
and Jefferson. On the frontiers of Maine it is abundant, and 
has been seen by Professor Holmes, of the Gardiner Lyceum, 
near Lake Umbagog, and others. In these countries, the spot- 
ted grouse is known by the various names of wood partridge, 
swamp partridge, cedar partridge, and spruce partridge. The 
American settlers of Canada distinguish it by the first. In 
Michigan and New York, it goes generally by the second. In 
Maine it bears the third, and in other parts of New England, 
New Brunswick, &c. more properly the last. We have been 
informed by General Henry A. S. Dearborn, that they are 
sent from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to Boston, in a 
frozen state ; as in the north they are known to be so kept 
hanging throughout the winter, and, when wanted for use, they 
need only be taken down, and placed in cold water to thaw. 
General Dearborn, to whom we are much indebted for the in- 
formation which his interest for science has induced him 
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