CANADA GROUSE; SPRUCE GROUSE
298c. C. c. canace. 15 in.
Male black and grayish; female chiefly rusty, barred with black. The Spruce Grouse is usually found in dense thickets and groves or swamps of evergreen woods. It is one of the least suspicious of birds, and in winter, is sometimes knocked down by sticks in the hands of deer hunters. Their flesh is unfit to eat and consequently they are not hunted.
Notes.—A drumming, said to be produced by the wings, when in the air; a clucking by the female.
Nest.—Eggs laid on the ground, usually under low, spreading branches of spruces; bright buff with bold black blotches (1.70 × 1.25).
Range.—Northern New England, New York and Minnesota, northward.
