Part 53

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.

HAB. Coast Mountains of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia.

The specimens of Ruffed Grouse from the Pacific coast differ very greatly from others in much darker tints of coloration, although the pattern is precisely the same. The upper parts are dark orange-chestnut, mottled with black, the cordate light spots very distinct. The feathers of the breast are strongly tinged with reddish-yellow; those of the sides marked with broad and conspicuous bars of black, instead of the obsolete brown. The under tail-coverts are orange-chestnut, with indistinct bars of black, and an angular terminal blotch of white. All the light brown blotches and edgings of the eastern variety are here dark brown or black. The jugular band between the ruffles is very conspicuously black. Specimens from Eastern Oregon and Washington have dark gray tails, and thus incline toward var. _umbelloides_.

HABITS. The Western Ruffed Grouse was found abundant by Dr. Suckley in the timbered districts throughout Oregon and Washington Territory. Its habits seemed to be identical with those of the eastern birds. Owing to the mildness of the season in the vicinity of Fort Steilacoom, the males commence drumming as early as January, and in February they are heard to drum throughout the night. In the autumn they collect in great numbers in the crab-apple thickets near the salt marshes at the mouths of the rivers emptying into Puget Sound. There they feed for about six weeks on the ripe fruit of the northwestern crab-apple, the _Pyrus rivularis_ of Nuttall.

Dr. Cooper also speaks of this Grouse as very abundant everywhere about the borders of woods and clearings. It was common near the forests east of the Cascade Mountains up to the 49th degree. These birds vary in plumage there, a pale-grayish hue predominating. West of the mountains they are all of a very dark brown. There was, however, no perceptible difference in their habits or cries from those of the same bird elsewhere.

Mr. J. K. Lord assigns to this species an extended geographical range west of the Rocky Mountains,—from the borders of California, throughout Oregon and Washington Territories, extending high up on the slopes of the Rocky Mountains, plentiful in all the timbered lands between the Cascades and the rocky ruts along the banks of the Columbia, over the ridge of the Cascades, and down their western slopes to Frazer’s River, in all the islands of the Gulf of Georgia, and everywhere on Vancouver Island to its extreme northern end, and on the mainland as far north as latitude 53°. The habits of this Grouse are described as singularly erratic, and its food as varied in its character. In the spring their favorite haunt is in the vicinity of stagnant pools, or in the brush around a marsh in which the wild swamp-crab, the black birch, and the alder grow. In such places they mate, and during the breeding-season are said to be very constant and devoted. During the time of pairing, and at intervals after their young are hatched, the male produces the sound known as drumming. The bird is said to squat on a log or a fallen tree, motionless as though it had no life. Suddenly all the feathers appear as if reversed, the tail is erected, the ruff round its neck stands out stiff and rigid, and the wings droop as if broken. These slowly vibrate, and then produce a sound loud and clear, like the thrum of a double-bass string. Then the wings move with increased rapidity, and the sound becomes a continuous throbbing hum. It then suddenly ceases, and after a few minutes the same performance is repeated.

Mr. Lord also states that he has seen the males of this species fighting furiously during the pairing season. Ruffing up their necks, with their heads and backs almost in a straight line, and with wings dropped, they circle round and round each other, striking and pecking until the vanquished gives in, and the victor mounts upon a log and proceeds to drum furiously.

Their nest is completed about the end of May, and is always placed under a log on the ground, or at the foot of a bush. It is composed of a quantity of dead leaves, lined with dry grasses, bits of moss, and a few feathers.

Mr. Lord adds that he found at least ten nests of this bird in one swamp near the Spokane Prairies. From ten to fourteen eggs was about the average number; they are described as in color of a dirty white, and without any spots or freckles of a darker shade. The chickens at once leave the nest and follow their mother, who calls them with a clucking sound, in the manner of a Hen, covers them when resting, and uses all kinds of feints and stratagems to lure an intruder from her young, fluttering along close to his feet as if her wings were entirely disabled, and then, when her chickens have had time to conceal themselves, suddenly darting off. When frightened, this Grouse rises with a loud rattling sound; but its natural upward movement is noiseless.

After the chickens are old enough, the flock removes to open hillsides where grass-seed, berries, and insects are in abundance. This Grouse never packs, but remains in broods. In the fall, before they begin to feed on the spruce buds, their flesh is said to be delicious; but after the snow shuts them off from other food they feed on the fir buds, and then their flesh acquires a strong flavor of turpentine.

In the tree this Grouse is not an easy bird to discover; so closely does its plumage resemble the lichen-covered bark that it is difficult to distinguish them, especially as, when alarmed, they crouch down lengthwise with the limb, and thus become concealed.

GENUS LAGOPUS, VIEILLOT.

_Lagopus_, VIEILLOT, Analyse, 1816. (Type, _Tetrao lagopus_, L.)

GEN. CHAR. Nasal groove densely clothed with feathers. Tail of sixteen or eighteen feathers. Legs closely feathered to the claws. The northern species snow white in winter.

The Ptarmigans inhabit the northern regions of both hemispheres, and with the Arctic fox and hares, the lemmings, and a few other species, characterize the Arctic zone. They are of rare occurrence within the limits of the United States, though farther north they become abundant. The species all change to white in winter, except _L. scoticus_, which appears to be merely a permanently dark, southern, insular form of _L. albus_. (See Alfred Newton in Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy, July, 1871, pp. 96, 97.)

Species and Varieties.

=A.= Tail-feathers always with more or less black.

1. =L. mutus.= Bill small, slender, the length from the nasal groove to the tip decidedly more than the height through the base. Male in winter with a black stripe on the lores.

♂ in summer with uniform black feathers on the breast; autumnal plumage bluish-gray, mottled. _Hab._ Northern Europe …

var. _mutus_.

♂ in summer without uniform black feathers on the breast. Autumnal plumage orange-rufous. _Hab._ Northern North America; Greenland; Iceland …

var. _rupestris_.

2. =L. albus.= Bill large, stout; the length from the nasal groove less, or not more, than the height through the base. Male in winter without black stripe on lores. _Hab._ Northern Europe and northern North America.

=B.= Tail-feathers entirely pure white.

3. =L. leucurus.= Winter plumage wholly white. _Hab._ Alpine summits of the Western mountain-ranges, from Colorado to Oregon and Washington, and north into British America.

[Plate: PLATE LXII.

1. Lagopus albus. ♂ _Summer._ Alaska, 21462. 2. Lagopus albus. ♀ _Summer._ Labrador, 43468. 3. Lagopus albus. ♂ _Winter._ 4. Lagopus rupestris. ♂ _Winter._ 30370. 5. Lagopus rupestris. ♀ _Summer._ Labrador, 44582. 6. Lagopus leucurus. ♂ _Summer._ Colorado, 16002.]

Lagopus albus, AUD.

WILLOW GROUSE; WHITE PTARMIGAN.

_Tetrao albus_, GMELIN, I, 1788, 750 (Hudson’s Bay).—LATH. Ind. Orn. II, 639. _Lagopus albus_, AUD. Syn. 1839, 207.—IB. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 114, pl. ccxcix.—BONAP. Am. Phil. III, new ser. p. 393, sp. 313.—GRAY, Gen. B. III.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 633.—BOIE, Isis, 1822, 558.—GRAY, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. III, 47, 1844.—BONAP. Geog. & Comp. List. B. p. 44, No. 288.—ELLIOT, Monog. Tetraon. pl.—COUES, P. A. N. S. 1861, 227.—GRAY, Cat. Brit. Mus. V, 1867, 80.—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Chicago Ac. I, 1869, 287.—FINSCH, Abh. Nat. III, 1872, 62 (Alaska). _Tetrao_ (_Lagopus_) _albus_, NUTTALL, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 816. _? Tetrao lagopus_, FORSTER, Phil. Trans. LXII, 1772, 390. _Tetrao saliceti_, SABINE, App. Franklin’s Narr. 681.—RICH. App. Parry’s 2d Voyage, 347.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 528, pl. cxci.—SAB. App. Frank. Narr. p. 681. _Tetrao_ (_Lagopus_) _saliceti_, SWAINSON, F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 351.—_Lagopus s._ GOULD. B. Eur. pl. _White Grouse_, PENNANT. _Tetrao lapponicus_, GMEL. Syst. Nat. I, 751, sp. 25.—LATH. Ind. Orn. II, 640, sp. 12. _Tetrao rehusak_, TEMM. Pig. et Gall. III, 225. _Lagopus subalpinus_, NILS. Orn. Suec. I, 307, sp. 139. _Lagopus brachydactylus_, TEMM. Man. Orn. III, 328.—GOULD, B. Eur. pl. cclvi.—GRAY, Gen. B. III.—BONAP. Consp. List. 44, No. 300.

SP. CHAR. Bill very stout. Bill as high as the distance from the nasal groove to its tip. Tail always black, narrowly tipped with white; wing (except upper coverts) pure white.

_Summer._ _Male_ (43,505, Fort Anderson, September 8; MacFarlane). Head, neck, and jugulum deep cinnamon-rufous; whole upper parts (except wings) paler, more fulvous brown, broadly and closely barred with black. Top of head spotted with black, and the jugulum and neck with scattered bars of the same. Wing, 7.50; bill, .40 from nostril, and .35 deep. _Female_ (53,526, Fort Anderson, June, 1865; MacFarlane). Entire plumage (except wings, tail, and legs) fulvous-buff, heavily spotted and barred above, and regularly barred beneath, with black. Wing, 7.20; bill, .40 by .40.

_Winter._ Entire plumage, except the tail (which is black with a white tip), immaculate snowy-white; shafts of primaries black. _Male_ (34,968, Northwest R., Labrador; D. Smith). Wing, 7.50; bill, .42 by .45. _Female_ (50,060, Nulato, Lower Yukon, April 12, 1867; W. H. Dall). Wing, 7.50; bill, .42 by .42.

_Chick_ (2,648, Fort Anderson, July, 1864). Prevailing color greenish-buff, tinged with sulphur-yellow on the throat and abdomen, and washed with fulvous on the upper parts. A large oval vertical patch of chestnut-rufous, bordered all round by a black line, which, from the occiput, is continued down the nape in a broad distinct stripe of black. On the upper part of the back this stripe bifurcates, and continues in two broad parallel stripes to the lower part of rump, where they again unite. A black stripe across the wing and one through the eye and auriculars.

HAB. Arctic America from Newfoundland to Sitka.

HABITS. Richardson regarded this species as an inhabitant of the fur countries from the 50th to the 70th parallel of latitude, being partially migratory within those limits. It was found to breed among the valleys of the Rocky Mountains, on the barren grounds, and along the Arctic coasts. On the approach of winter it collects in flocks, and retires southward as the severity of the weather increases. They remain, however, in considerable numbers as far north as latitude 67° even in the coldest winters. It was found to be tolerably abundant at the 65th parallel all the year, assembling in vast flocks on the shores of Hudson Bay in the winter time. Mr. Hutchins states that ten thousand of these birds have been captured in a single season at Severn River. Richardson adds that in 1819 these birds made their first appearance at Cumberland House, latitude 54°, in the second week of November, and that they returned to the northward again before the beginning of spring. In the winter they are said to shelter themselves in thickets of willows and dwarf birches, on the banks of marshes and lakes, the buds of the smaller shrubs being the principal part of their food at that season. Denuded sandy spots were their favorite resorts in the daytime, but they passed their nights in holes in the snow. When pursued by sportsmen or birds of prey, they often terminate their flight by hastily diving into the loose snow, working their way beneath its surface with considerable celerity. In thick, windy, or snowy weather they were very shy, perching on the taller willows, where it required a sharp eye to distinguish them from flakes of snow. In the summer season they feed chiefly on the berries of the alpine arbutus and other shrubs and plants, which are laid bare by the thaw, and which do not disappear until they are replaced by a new crop. They incubate about the beginning of June, at which time the females moult. The males assume their red-colored plumage as soon as the rocks and eminences become bare, at which time they are in the habit of standing upon large stones, calling in a loud and croaking voice to their mates, which, still in their white wintry garb, are hidden in the snows below. These birds are more usually in motion in the milder light of night than in the broad glare of day.

Captain Blakiston traced this Grouse across the interior from Hudson’s Bay to near the Rocky Mountains, and obtained a single specimen near Fort Carlton. It does not come down every winter, however, so far south on the Upper Saskatchewan. Near Lake Winnipeg, at Fort Cumberland, and to the eastward, they are common every winter, and numbers are obtained from the shores of Hudson’s Bay. Mr. Ross gives this species as common on the Mackenzie. Mr. Robert MacFarlane found it around Fort Anderson, where, he writes, it was always very numerous in that quarter at all seasons, and generally not difficult of approach. During the breeding-season the males were to be found perched upon trees and stumps in the vicinity of the nest, while the female would rarely leave the latter until almost trodden on. They are also said, by Mr. MacFarlane, to assume their summer plumage earlier than the males, differing in this statement from Dr. Richardson’s. Their nest is always on the ground, and consists only of a few decayed leaves placed in a depression. Sometimes other materials, such as hay, moss, feathers, etc., are found. While incubating, the female occasionally sits so close as to allow herself to be caught, rather than leave the nest.

They begin to nest early in June, varying a little with the season, not commencing so soon where the ground at that period was still covered with snow. Eggs taken from the oviduct were almost invariably pure white in color. In one instance an egg taken from the oviduct of a female, June 5, that had previously deposited eight eggs the same season, was covered with coloring matter or marking so soft as to adhere to the fingers when touched. After the female has once begun to lay, Mr. MacFarlane observed that she deposits one egg each day until the whole number has been reached. This varies from eight to ten.