GROUSE 
155 
with ruffs smaller. Occurs in two phases, regardless of age, sex, or season. A red form 
with the light parts of the tail brick-red, the browns elsewhere tending towards reddish 
rather than grey, and with copper-coloured (or black) ruffs. In the grey phase, the ground 
colour tail is ashy grey, there is much grey overwash on the back and elsewhere, and the 
ruffs are steely black. There are various intergrading and mixed plumages. 
Distinctions. The soft, black ruff feathers on the sides of the neck, the broad, am 
>le, 
many-barred tail, and the small eye-spots on lower back make this an easily distinguished 
species. The legs are more sparsely feathered than in other grouse and the lower half of 
the tarsus is bare (Figure 218). In winter the toes are edged with a row of fine pectinations 
suggesting snow-shoes. In midsummer these are shed and the toes are clean (Figure 225). 
Figure 225 
Foot of Ruffed Grouse: a, summer; b r winter. 
Field Marks. Size, general coloration, ruffs, and especially the broad grey or red, 
many-barred tail which is very conspicuous when the bird is flushed. 
Distribution. Wooded regions of Canada and the northern United States. In Canada 
absent only in a few localities of the most southern arid prairies. 
SUBSPECIES. The Ruffed Grouse is split into a number of recognized subspecies. 
The Canada Ruffed Grouse (la Gelinotfe des bois francs du Canada) Bonasa umbellus 
togata and the Nova Scotia Ruffed Grouse (la Gelinotte des bois francs de la Nouvelle- 
Ecosse) Bonasa umbellus thayeri are the east. Canadian forms, the latter confined to the 
extreme east and the former extending across the continent into southern British Columbia 
and to the east slope of the Coast Range. The Grey Ruffed Grouse (la Gelinotte grise 
des bois francs) Bonasa umbellus umbelloides occupies the interior of British Columbia. It 
has considerably more grey veiling on back and elsewhere and the red phase is scarcer. 
The Yukon Iiuffed Grouse (la Gelinotte des bois francs du Yukon) Bonasa umbellus yukon - 
ensis is a newly recognized form of Alaska and Yukon. It carries the general greyness 
still farther than the previous forms. The Oregon Ruffed Grouse (la Gelinotte des bois 
francs de 1’Orcgon) Bonasa umbellus sabini is the bird of the Pacific coast, west of the 
Coast Range. This is a very red bird with little or no grey anywhere. The back is in 
general a warm rufous-brown and the breast and underpart are heavily and broadly barred. 
The extreme grey phase is scarcely greyer than some of the red birds of other subspecies. 
Owing to the dichromatism and great individual variation in this 
species these races, except sabini , are difficult to separate and considerable 
confusion prevails amongst authorities as to their relative distribution. 
Typical birds of the umbelloides type can be found intermixed with good 
togata far east on the prairies and south near the boundary of British 
Columbia, and vice versa, togata specimens crop up in umbelloides regions. 
Probably only in the extreme ranges will the forms be found pure and 
unmistakable, and most local races can only be determined by average 
characters that leave room for wide variation in personal opinion. With 
such areas of overlapping it is hardly safe to be dogmatic. The above 
ranges give the present opinion of the writer based upon quite considerable 
material, but this does not agree with the American Ornithologists’ Union 
