TETRAO CANADENSIS. 
847 
GENUS I. TETRAO. THE WOOD GROUSE. 
Gen. Oh. Posterior margin of sternum, between indentations, quite wide, slightly indented in the middle, with the edg¬ 
es rounded. Tig of keel, projecting well forward. Costal process, tapering to a rounded point. Tarsus, fully feathered, 
as is also the spaces between the toes, but the latter are naked. No elongated feathers on neck. 
Members of this genus inhabit heavily wooded country, usually living among evergreens. They are all dark in color. 
There is but one species within our limits. 
TETRAO CANADENSIS. 
Spruce Grouse. 
Tetrao Canadensis Linn., Syst. Nat. I; 1766, 274. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sr. Cn. Form, robust. Size, not large. Tongue, triangular in form, fleshy, and pointed. Cceca, 17.00 long, small 
at base, measuring about ‘10 in diameter for 3'75, then suddenly enlarging to about ’30 in diameter and continues this size 
to the blind end, the termination of which is rounded. It is greenish in color, with eight longitudinal lines of a lighter 
shade. Number of tail feathers, sixteen. Sexes, not similar. 
Color. Adult male. Black throughout, excepting wings which are dark-brown, becoming much lighter on the tips 
of secondaries and outer edge of primaries. Upper surface, excepting tail, and collar, finely banded with reddish-brown 
and ashy-blue, the latter predominating, Spots on tertiaries, line of spots behind eye, line along cheeks, meeting on the 
throat, white; band across breast and abdomen, under tail coverts, sides, flanks, and under wing coverts, also banded with 
white, and the feathers of the three last named portions are finely barred with ashy-brown. The tail is tipped with yel¬ 
lowish-brown, and the tibia and tarsus are dusky, mottled with white. 
Adult female. Banded above, including tail, with yellowish-red, ashy-blue, and black, with the white markings of the 
male, on the scapularies. Below, banded as far as the breast, with yellowish-red and black; remaining under portions, band¬ 
ed with yellowish-red, black, and white, in equal prop irtions. 
Young. Are much redder above and below than the adult; this is especially noticeable in the female, where there is 
nearly as much red below the breast as above it. 
Nestlings. Are at first lined, mottled, and spotted with yellowish-red, black, and white, both sexes being then similar, 
but they soon assume the plumages last described. Naked space over the eye, scarlet. Iris, bill, and feet, dark-brown in 
all stages. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
There is a little variation in plumage but this species may be readily known in all stages, by the predominating dark 
colors as described. Distributed, as a constant resident, from Northern New England to the Arctic Circle. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of male specimens from Maine. Length, 15*50; stretch, 21*50; wing, 6*32; tail, 4*32; bill, 
*63; tarsus, 1*35. Longest specimen, 16*00; greatest extent of wing, 22*00; longest wing, 6 75; tail, 4*75; bill, *70; tarsus, 
1*50. Shortest specimen, 15*00; smallest extent of wing, 21*00; shortest wing, 6*00: tail, 4*00; bill, *55; tarsus, 1*25. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Nests, placed on the ground; they are not elaborate structures, being composed of twigs, leaves, moss, or any other 
convenient material. 
Eggs, from eight to fourteen in number, oblong oval in form, deep buff in color, spotted and splashed with brown of 
varying shades. Dimensions from 1*20 x 1*68 to l*22x 1*75. 
HABITS. 
Those who have visited the dark evergreen forests of Northern New England, which are 
mainly composed of giant spruces and hemlocks that raise their huge branches high in air 
but that are so closely interlaced as to nearly exclude every vestige of sun-light, thus the 
ground about the roots of the trees is in perpetual shadow, yet vegetation thrives in this 
half-light, and even flowers bloom in profusion at the proper season, enlivening with their 
varied hues a scene which otherwise would appear strikingly gloomy; those who have seen 
all this, I say, can form some idea how the Spruce Grouse live, for this is their home. 
