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Ruffed Grouse
Adult male--General colour yellowish brown or rusty; upper parts mottled with black and gray; under parts light buff to white or buffy white on the belly, with irregular dark mottled bars, which are more pronounced on the breast and at the sides; on either side of the neck are large tufts of black feathers, which may be distended at will.
Adult female--Somewhat lighter than the male, and with very small tufts on the neck.
Length--17.
Breeding Range--Throughout the Eastern States, from the higher regions of Georgia northward.
The nest is on the ground, usually at the base of a tree, sometimes against a fallen log or under a bush. It is made of dead leaves with a few feathers, and is either very shallow or fully five inches deep inside. From 8 to 14 and rarely 16 eggs are laid; they are creamy white, often much stained, and sometimes speckled with brown. Size--1.56 x 1.13.
Under the different names of Ruffed Grouse, Pheasant, and Partridge this bird is well known to all sportsmen as perhaps the finest of our Eastern game birds. Its extraordinary habit of drumming has been the cause of many a surprise, and even of fright, to the novice, who, not knowing whence the sound proceeded, has attributed it to all sorts of wild and ferocious animals. That it is really made by a bird is hard to believe. The sound is made by the rapid striking of the wings either against the sides of the body or against the air (this is a much-disputed question) while the bird is standing on a fallen tree or a low bush; and though this is the mating call, it may be heard throughout the shooting season in Maine and probably elsewhere.
The nesting season in the neighbourhood of New York begins about April 25th. The period of incubation occupies about 18 days, the young leaving the nest as soon as hatched, and after a few days being able to fly.
When the old bird is driven from her nest she starts off with one or both wings, and perhaps a leg, apparently broken, and after scrambling on the ground for a few yards, she scales along until about a hundred feet away, and then takes flight. If she is found with her brood of chicks she acts in a most remarkable manner, either attacking the disturber or else feigning complete powerlessness, thus diverting attention long enough to enable the young to hide.
Near where I am now living (South Orange, N. J.) the woodsmen say that the partridge always build at the foot of a white oak. There seems to be some truth in the saying, so far as this immediate neighbourhood is concerned, as all the nests I have seen hereabouts were at the foot of white oaks.