208 
TETRAO CANADENSIS. 
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 
he taken down, and placed in cold water to thaw. 
General Dearborn, to whom we are much indebted for 
the information which his interest for science has 
induced him voluntarily to furnish, farther mentions, 
that he has heard from his father, that, during the 
progress of the expedition under Arnold, through the 
wilderness to Quebec, in 1775, these grouse were 
occasionally shot between the tide waters of Kennebeck 
river and the sources of the Chaudiere, now forming 
part of the state of Maine. Fine specimens of the 
spotted grouse have been sent to the Lyceum of Natural 
History of New York, from the Sault de Ste. Marie, by 
Mr Schoolcraft, whose exertions in availing himself of 
the opportunities which his residence affords him, for 
the advancement of every branch of zoology, merit the 
highest praise. He informs us, that this bird is common 
from Lake Huron to the sources of the Mississippi, 
being called in the Chipeway language, mushcodasee, 
i. e. partridge of the plains. 
The favourite haunts of the spotted grouse, are pine 
woods and dark cedar swamps, in winter resorting to 
the deep forests of spruce, to feed on the tops and 
leaves of these evergreens, as well as on the seeds 
contained in their cones, and on juniper berries. Hence 
their flesh, though at all times good, is much better in 
summer, as in winter it has a strong flavour of spruce. 
At Hudson’s Bay, where they are called indifferently 
wood or spruce partridge, they are seen throughout the 
year. Like other grouse, they build on the ground, 
laying perhaps fewer eggs ; these are varied with white, 
yellow, and black. They are easily approached, being 
unsuspicious, and by no means so shy as the common 
ruffed grouse, and are killed or trapped in numbers, 
without much artifice being necessary for this purpose, 
3 
