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GALLIFORMES 
Check-list which extends togata west only to Manitoba and extends 
umbelloides over the prairies and southern British Columbia, referring 
the Alaska and Yukon birds to yukonensis. 
The Ruffed Grouse is the “Partridge” of most Canadian sportsmen. 
Where it has learned its lesson of wariness, as in old centres of settlement, 
it offers probably the best sport of any of our upland birds. Lying close 
in the dense underbrush and bursting from the tangle like a miniature 
explosion, attaining full speed almost instantly, and hurtling away in the 
shadowy aisles of the bush, it tests the alertness and the skill of the finest 
marksman. However, all birds have not learned the lessons so necessary 
to existence and shooting Ruffed Grouse in the north and west is a severe 
test of sportsmanlike ideals. Too often it degenerates into pot-hunting and 
shooting on the ground or from trees. Such methods may fill the bag but 
are no more sportsmanlike than killing poultry with an ax. 
The Ruffed Grouse is a bird of the bush and is seldom seen away 
from timber. Through the prairies it is to be found in most of the larger 
poplar bluffs and in the wooded valleys of the rivers. Its drumming is a 
sound well known to all frequenters of the woods. It is a series of reverber- 
ating throbs made by rapidly beating wings and has a peculiar all-pervading 
intensity that makes the direction of its origin difficult to locate. The 
beats begin slowly with measured frequency, gradually increasing in speed 
until at the end of perhaps five seconds they run into each other and die 
away in a confused whir. The male is usually strutting on a favourite 
fallen log w T hen he pauses to drum. During the drumming the bird dis- 
plays all his ornaments — tail, crest, and ruff — and his wings are lost to 
sight in a haze of speed. There has been much discussion as to how the 
sound is produced. The action is so quick that it confuses the eye, and 
conflicting explanations have been given by eye witnesses. Slow moving 
pictures, however, have shown that the beat is produced by the forward 
stroke of the wings against the air in front of the bird. The similarity 
of the sound of the w’ings as the bird suddenly rises to wing is evident. The 
action is, probably, the call of the male to the females as is the display of 
the Peacock or the Turkey gobbler. Spring is the proper season for drum- 
ming, although it is indulged in regularly in the autumn also, probably in 
sheer exuberance of spirits, for there is no sexual activity accompanying 
it and the females appear to give it no particular attention. 
Ptarmigan 
General Description. Ptarmigan are Arctic Grouse and notable for their remarkable 
seasonal change in plumage. In winter they are, except for certain details in some species, 
pure white; in summer, they are barred or vermiculated with various shades of red, brown, 
and ochre, with irregular white feathers and patches 
remaining from winter. The moult seems practically 
constant throughout the summer, and as they have an 
autumn as well as a summer plumage, some very puzzling 
plumage mixtures occur. In the same bird white 
feathers of the previous winter may still persist when 
similar ones of the coming winter season are appearing 
together with a mixture of both the summer and the 
autumn plumages. The principal characteristic of the 
summer plumage is generally a distinct and coarse cross- 
barring and that of the autumn is fine vermiculation and 
an intimate pepper and salt mixture of colours. In 
summer, irregular patches of white may persist and the 
wings are always white. The feet are feathered to the 
toes (Figure 226). With these decided characteristics 
Feathered foot of Ptarmigan; 
scale, about i. 
