Vol. XCIII 
NOVEMBER, 1923 
The Stalwart Ruffed Grouse 
With Notes on His Less Famous Cousins, the Canada Grouse and Ptarmigan 
W HEN the opening burrs dis¬ 
close full brown skinned chest¬ 
nuts and under the spreading 
oaks, one’s steps crunch upon the newly 
dropped acorn; when maple, beach and 
birch have all donned their most bril¬ 
liant October raiment, the round-tree 
berries hang in scarlet clusters and 
only the pines and firs cling to their 
perpetual garb of Lincoln green, 
sportsman, hunter or country boy each 
feels that same keen thrill as when, in 
the act of stepping over some moss- 
grown log—whir-r-r, whir-r, and away 
goes a stalwart ruffed grouse startling 
the woodland stillness with his strong 
swift beating pinions. To all who love 
to read nature’s book and to whom the 
sights and sounds of northern woods 
or southern mountains are familiar, 
the ruffed grouse holds sway as one of 
the foremost among our game birds. 
Though really a grouse, he is gener¬ 
ally known in the middle and northern 
states as Partridge, in the more south¬ 
ern mountains as Pheasant and in 
Canada as Birch Partridge to distin¬ 
guish him from the Canada Grouse 
locally referred as spruce partridge. 
Of all American game birds, there 
is probably none whose habits, and 
incidentally, the sport afforded by 
whose pursuit is so variously 
affected by the nearness or re¬ 
moteness of his habitat from set¬ 
tled districts. 
In the wilder parts of Canada, 
where he is only shot at by the 
trapper or big game hunter to 
make a change in the usual menu 
of fish or venison, the ruffed grouse 
is so tame as to afford little or no 
real sport to the shooter. If met 
with under these conditions, his 
I 
Page 611 
By CAPT. BEVERLY W. ROBINSON 
negligible efforts to avoid danger are 
usually limited to a flutter of a few 
yards to the lower branches of some 
spruce or pine alighting upon which 
several members of a brood will stupid¬ 
ly survey the hunter and render them¬ 
selves the easiest of marks for his 
small rifle or “game getter.” Here, to 
give him the least bit of a sporting 
chance, it would seem but fair that 
only shots at the head should be taken. 
Indeed when, at times, not desiring to 
fire even a small caliber rifle for fear 
of disturbing larger game, I have not 
infrequently secured several of these 
delicious birds for the pot with some 
well directed stones. 
J^UT take him in the settled districts 
where he is regularly hunted 
each season by man and dog and he 
will be found to be a most sporting 
and wily game bird. Frequently flush¬ 
ing well ahead of your dog, his swift 
flight usually carries him behind the 
thickest bit of covert and quick shoot¬ 
ing and quiet, careful hunting are es¬ 
sential to success. Although when 
first found, he does not always lay well 
to your dog, if marked down and 
flushed several times he often ends by- 
laying close and giving a good shot. 
He is not a bird of the open but is 
not infrequently found along the edges 
of woodlands or dry alder swamps. 
Late in the season, when the nuts are 
i ipe, they often go to the ridges of 
beech and birch to feed and, as there 
is litle underbrush on such ground, the 
sportsman must be doubly on the alert 
as the birds are apt to flush wide off. 
Being very fond of berries, old semi- 
cleared lands and deserted lumber 
camps, overgrown as they often are 
with raspberry bushes, are excellent 
places to look for ruffed grouse. Once 
the birds have been flushed and marked 
down, as well as can be, one should 
look carefully to any brushy cover or 
the old tops of fallen trees as these are 
favorite places of hiding and if your 
dog fails to get any trace of their 
scent, don’t neglect to look well up on 
the branches of nearby trees as it is by 
no means unusual for them to alight 
there. 
J^URING the latter part of Septem¬ 
ber the young birds are pretty fully 
grown and feathered, the season’s 
brood numbering anywhere from 
eight to a dozen birds usually 
separates, after which they are 
more often found either singly’’ or 
in pairs. By no means as sociable 
as Bob-white they keep farther 
away from the haunts of man, 
preferring the rough, hilly and 
wooded country well removed from 
the farm. Very strong, fast fliers, 
they seem also full of tricks and 
wiles such as stalking a flirt behind 
a tree just at the moment that one 
pulls the trigger, or pitching off 
and lighting considerably to one 
STEADY, BOY! WHICH WAY WILL HE GO? 
WHAT WILL HE DO? WHAT MAN CAN SAY 
WHEN THE “HE” IN QUESTION IS THAT KING 
OE GAME BIRDS, THE RUFFED GROUSE ! 
Contents Copyrighted by Forest and Stream Fub. Co. 
