SPOTTED GROUSE. 
207 
Latham, and all subsequent writers have acquiesced. 
Both sexes were tolerably well figured by BufFon, as 
they had also been previously by Edwards. 
The spotted grouse is well characterized by its 
much rounded tail, of but sixteen broad and rounded 
feathers, and may be at once distinguished from all 
others by the large and conspicuous white spots orna- 
menting the breast, flanks, and under tail-coverts. It 
has been inacurately compared with the European 
Tetrao bonasia , from which it differs very materially, 
not even being 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 moun- 
tains, even of great elevation. It inhabits Canada in 
winter, and was seen by Vieillot 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 Phila- 
delphia Museum, where it has been long exhibited 
under the name of Louisiana grouse. This, as truly 
observed by Say, first entitled 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 spotted 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 
