1872 
Canaco canadensis. 
June — 
1873. 
June 28. 
Aug.13. I 
I 
i 
1874. ’ 
July 28 
i 
I 
il 
1 
i: 
July 31. !; 
Maine (Lake Mmbagog). 
Gideon Stone, one of the early settlors of this re¬ 
gion tells me that ho has frequently seen the Spruce 
Grouse drum. Ho describes the performance as ^ollows; 
The male springs from the ground vibrating its v;ings ra¬ 
pidly and rises at an incline of about 45° to some hori¬ 
zontal branch ten or t-/olve feet above the ground, v/hore 
It rests a moment and then returns to the ground on about 
the same incline also drumming as it descends. The 
sound thus produced is much like that of the Ruffod 
Grouse but lacks the preliminary, disconnected thuds 
andis altogether shorter, more hurried, and not as loud 
altiiough it may be heard a considerable distance in still 
weather. 
An adult female with a chick about five days old 
were brought to me alive by one of the guides who took 
them on the Tyler Path. He said that there v/ere ton 
young in the brood. He snared the female in the usual 
manner with a noosoof tvano attached to the end of a 
short polo, passing the noose over her head. 
TV /-0 young 
and about half 
brought to mo. 
berries, check 
birds, a male and female in first plumage 
grown, wore killed on the Tyler Path,.and 
Their crops contained raspberries, blue— 
erborries, fir buds, and needles. 
Amiong the t’oickly growing young firs and soruces 
behind the mill, r eame upon a brood of young Spruce 
Grouse about as large as Quail. They rose t with a 
heavy whirring to the tops of the low firs where they 
sat vmtching me, uttering occasionally a low v/histlin*^ 
noise 
The mother 
. . ^Iso alighted on a fir near by and 
ca_led incessantly krM?ck,-kr.uck. krrr-kruck to her young 
Approaching her cautiously I actually got near enough’ 
to prod her in the breast with the muzzle.of my gun'push- 
xng heroff the branch, when she flew rapidly with a 
loud vmirring to anoti-er small tree and allowed mo to 
approach quite as near again. Upon my withdrawing a 
few yards she began to call again, aand the young birds 
answering she shortly after took wing and alighted 
among them. in flight and general altitudes I noticed 
nothing very difPorent from thos.e of the Ruffed Grouse 
The young looked very like those of that bird at a cor¬ 
responding age. 
Came upon the same 
spruces behind the mill. 
vralked out along a sprue 
a turkey cock’s, calling 
tones as his mother. 
brood seen on the 28th, in the 
One of the young, the la-gest, 
e limb v/ith his tail erected like 
continuously in nearly the same 
