Part 106

HAB. Eastern Province of North America; in the northeastern portions (New England, Labrador) and Alleghany Mountains inclining toward var. umbellus in having a gray tail.

HABITS. This well-known bird—the common Birch Partridge of the British Provinces, the Partridge of New England and the West, and the Pheasant of the Middle States—is found throughout the wooded portions of eastern North America, from Georgia to Nova Scotia, and from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains. Richardson, in his description of its habits in the Fauna Boreali-Americana, states that he met with it as far north as the 56th parallel of latitude, and mentions, in a note, that Mr. Drummond procured specimens on the sources of the Peace River, in the valley of the Rocky Mountains, in no wise different from those taken on the Saskatchewan. On the banks of the latter river it was found very plentiful, frequenting the horse-paths and the cleared spaces about the forts. In winter, when the ground was covered with snow, it occurred in flocks of ten or twelve, perching on trees. These flocks could be approached without difficulty, and several birds successively shot from the same tree without exciting the alarm of the survivors, if the lowest were shot first. When disturbed, like most Grouse they flew off very swiftly, with a loud whirring sound, and to a considerable distance before alighting. The male in spring makes a very singular loud noise, resembling the quick roll of a drum, which is produced by rapid strokes of the wings, and which may be heard to quite a distance. In the mating-season the male struts about in the presence of the female, in the manner of a Turkey-cock, its wings drooping, its tail erected, and its ruffs displayed.

This Grouse is a constant resident in the district in which it occurs, and, as a general rule, is in no sense migratory, though it is stated by Audubon that in some regions where they are very abundant they perform partial sorties at the approach of autumn. These only occur in mountainous regions in which during the winter months there is an insufficiency of food. These movements have been noticed on the banks of the Ohio and the Susquehanna Rivers. Their journeys occur in the month of October, when they are in the best condition for the table, and they are much sought after. In the spring, those which have escaped return to the regions from which they migrated. Mr. Audubon states that in October, 1820, he observed a large number moving from the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois into Kentucky, many of which were shot, and taken to the Cincinnati market.

This Grouse is found wherever wooded country is to be met with, and is especially fond of the craggy sides of mountains and hills, and the borders of rivers and small streams. They also often occur in considerable numbers in low lands, and were discovered by Mr. Audubon breeding in the thickest cane-brakes of Indiana and Kentucky.

They find in these wooded regions at once the means of food and shelter. In these localities they breed, and there they may usually be seen at all seasons of the year. They are thus to be met with in nearly all the Southern States, being abundant in the Carolinas, in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi, as far to the southwest as Natchez. They are not known to occur in any part of Louisiana. Dr. Newberry did not encounter this bird within the limits of California, but found them very abundant in the wooded portions of the Cascade Mountains and in the Willamette Valley. The Oregon specimens were generally darker than the eastern varieties, but the habits were apparently everywhere the same.

In many important respects the habits of this bird appear to be essentially different from those of the Pinnated Grouse. Unlike that species, it is rarely met with on open plains. Though the food of the two species appears to be very similar, this peculiarity and difference of abode is quite striking. This is more noticeable at the South than in the more northern and western portions of the country, where, however, this species seems to seek, and the cupido to avoid, the wooded sections.

They differ, also, in their more solitary disposition, being never seen in groups of more than four or five, and rarely other than singly or in pairs. Wilson observed, while travelling among the mountains of Pennsylvania, that these birds left the woods early in the morning to seek the open path or road to pick up gravel or to glean among the droppings of the horses, and he was thus enabled to supply himself without leaving the path. On the ground they were observed to move with great stateliness, spreading out their broad fan-like tails.

The flight of this Grouse is low, straightforward, and rarely protracted more than a few hundred yards at a time. It is somewhat stiff, and performed with frequent, almost continual, beatings of its wings. When it is flushed from its nest, or is suddenly startled from the ground by a dog, it rises with a loud whirring sound, which noise, however, is not made when the bird rises of its own accord. Its movements on the ground are very stately and graceful, except when it is approached too near, when it runs in a rapid manner, lowers its head, and spreads its tail, and either seeks shelter or takes to flight. When it hides in the bushes, it usually squats and remains close. They are difficult birds to shoot on the wing, the more so that they make sudden and unexpected changes in the direction of their flight. When they light on a tree, they are more readily followed and shot. The prevalent notion that, where several of these birds are in the same tree, several may be procured if you are careful to shoot the lowest one each time, was not verified by Mr. Audubon’s experience.

The love-season of the Partridge commences early in March, and is indicated by the drumming of male birds. This sound is produced by the male bird only, who, standing on a fallen log or on an elevated rock in the most retired portion of the woods, lowers his wings, expands his tail, contracts his neck, and seems to inflate his whole body. The tufts of feathers on either side of the neck are elevated, and the bird struts and wheels about in the most pompous manner possible to imagine. After manœuvring in this manner for some time, he begins to strike the sides of his own body with his stiffened wings with short and rapid strokes. These become more and more rapid, until the noise they produce seems continuous. These sounds may be heard at all hours of the day, but more generally early in the morning. The sound thus produced has generally been compared to that produced by beating together two distended bladders. But this gives one a very inadequate idea of the rolling, reverberating, ventriloquistic noise which these birds thus occasion. It is more like the distant and closing reverberations caused by remote thunder, and seems to the listener much nearer than it really is. It may be imitated in several ways, so as even to deceive the bird, and to bring him, in a fatal impulse of jealousy, to the shot of the sportsman.

In the spring these birds feed on the buds of several kinds of trees, especially the birches. In Maine they are particularly fond of the buds of the black birch, which gives to their flesh a peculiar and very agreeable flavor, and from this in certain localities they are known as the Birch Partridge. They also feed largely on the esculent berries of the summer, as raspberries, blueberries, and huckleberries, and in the fall become plump and fat, and are esteemed a great delicacy.

Mr. Audubon states that, as this bird rises from the ground, it utters a cackling note, which it repeats six or seven times, and then emits a lisping whistle, like the cry of some young bird, which is rather remarkable. When the ground is covered by a fall of light snow, these birds dive into it and conceal themselves, sometimes burrowing through it to the depth of several feet. When pursued, they frequently escape in this manner. Many are taken under the snow; others are snared by nooses, or by means of figure of four traps.

This Grouse is more or less polygamous, and both sexes are somewhat promiscuous in their intercourse. The males only remain with the females until incubation has commenced, and then keep by themselves, unless recalled by the females when their eggs have been taken or destroyed. The males occasionally indulge in severe contests for the possession of the female, but not to the same extent as with the Pinnated Grouse.

The female places her nest in some retired spot, usually on the edge of the woods, or near an opening in it, always on the ground, and often under the shelter of a projecting rock or a fallen log. The nest is very rude and simple, consisting of only a few leaves laid in a depression and not woven together. The eggs are from seven to twelve in number, and are generally of a uniform yellowish-brown color, and are very rarely mottled or spotted. During incubation the Partridge sits very closely, and permits a near approach before she will leave her charge. The young Partridges leave the nest as soon as they are hatched, following their mother, who calls to them with a clucking sound not unlike that of the common domestic Hen. The mother is very devoted, courageous, and wily in defending them. Coming suddenly upon a young brood of Partridges squatted with their mother near the roadside in a woods, my first knowledge of their presence was received from the old bird flying directly at my face, and then tumbling about at my feet with frantic manifestations of distress and imitated lameness. In the mean while the little ones scattered in every direction, and were not to be found. As soon as she was satisfied of their safety, the parent flew to a short distance, and I soon heard her clucking call to them to come to her again. Altogether, it was one of the most striking scenes of parental devotion and well-managed intervention I ever witnessed. When I came upon the mother, she had squatted upon the ground, and the young had taken refuge under her wings.

The males keep apart from the females and the young until the approach of winter, when they reassemble in their search for food. In severe seasons, when the snow lies very deep, especially in Pennsylvania, they are said to feed on the buds of the Mountain Laurel, or some other poisonous shrub which imparts a poisonous character to their flesh. In Maine they have been accused of resorting to apple-orchards and destroying the fruit-buds, thus occasionally causing a serious injury to the prospective harvest. We apprehend there is some foundation for these charges.

Mr. William Street, of Easthampton, who resides on Mount Tom, writes me that he has found this Grouse very numerous in that vicinity. Having lived in a secluded place ten years, and having met with these birds constantly by day and by night, he has been able to note some interesting peculiarities in their habits. The drumming by the male is often made on a stone as well as a log, the same perch being resorted to, when once chosen by a male bird, as long as it lives. In one instance he knew one of these Partridges persistently adhere to its drumming-place, even though the woods had all been cut away and a new road made close by its post. They roost on the ground as well as on trees, when near their home, and just where night overtakes them. They can fly by night as well as by day, when disturbed, as he has often had occasion to notice, having started them up at all hours of the night. They are very local in their habits, and never wander more than a hundred rods from the drumming-place of the male. This spot seems to be the central point around which they live. The young keep with the old birds throughout the fall and winter, and select their own homes in the spring, not far from those of their parents. When a flock is started up, they separate and fly in every direction; but if one sits quietly down and keeps perfectly still, in less than an hour he will see them all coming back, on foot, and all at about the same time.

The eggs of this species measure 1.60 inches in length by 1.15 in breadth. They are usually unspotted and of a uniform dark cream-color, occasionally marked with darker blotches of the same. They are of an elongated oval, pointed at one end.

Bonasa umbellus, var. umbelloides, DOUGLAS.

THE MOUNTAIN PARTRIDGE.

Tetrao umbelloides, DOUGL. Linn. Trans. XVI, 1829, 148. Bonasa umbellus, var. umbelloides, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 925 (appendix). Bonasa umbelloides, ELLIOT, P. A. N. S. 1864. Bonasa umbellus, AUD.—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Chicago, Ac. I, 1869, 287 (Alaska, interior).

SP. CHAR. In pattern of coloration exactly similar to umbellus, but colors different. Rufous tints almost wholly replaced by gray, the ground-color of the tail always fine light ash. Neck-tufts deep glossy-black.

HAB. Rocky Mountains of the United States, and interior of British America, from Alaska (on the Yukon) to Canada, where grading into var. umbellus.

HABITS. In regard to the habits of this variety we have no information. It was found by Mr. Drummond among the Rocky Mountains, near the sources of the tributaries of the Saskatchewan. He states that those he met with were at least one third smaller than the umbellus, had a much grayer plumage and a shorter ruffle. He regarded it as a distinct species from the common Partridge, which he also encountered in the same locality.

Mr. Ridgway met with this variety on the Wahsatch Mountains in October and during the summer. It was known in that locality as the Pine Hen, in distinction from the T. obscurus, which was known as the Mountain Grouse.

The eggs of this variety measure 1.62 inches in length by 1.20 in breadth. Their ground-color is a deep uniform cream, darker than in the umbellus. They are occasionally marked with dark tints of the same.

Bonasa umbellus, var. sabini, DOUGLAS.

THE OREGON GROUSE.

Tetrao sabini, DOUGLAS, Trans. Linn. Soc. XVI, 1829, 137.—RICH. F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 343. ? Tetrao umbellus, RICH. F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 342.—NEWBERRY, Zoöl. Cal. & Or. Route, Rep. P. R. R. Surv. VI, IV, 1857, 94. Bonasa sabini, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 631.—COOPER & SUCKLEY, 224.—ELLIOT, P. A. N. S. 1864.—IB. Monog. Tetraon.—LORD, Pr. R. A. I. IV, 123 (Br. Col.).—GRAY, Cat. Brit. Mus. V, 1867, 89.—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Chicago Ac. I, 1869, 287 (Alaska coast).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 540.

SP. CHAR. Similar to var. umbellus, but much darker. The rufous tints almost castaneous, and the dusky markings larger. Length, about 18.00; wing, 7.30; tail, 6.70.