The Ruffed Grouse, our best-known game-bird, is a creature of personality. Protectively colored, he waits until he is almost trodden upon, then rises with a startling whir of wings, leaving the wayfarer thunderstruck. The female, as she incubates, is rarely seen, for she does not stir, and her back perfectly imitates her surroundings.
In the spring, the male Grouse struts and drums at chosen spots in the woodland. On a log he paces up and down, ruffs lifted, wide tail fully spread and elevated; or he stands erect, and, beating his chest rapidly with his wings, produces the drumming sound for which he is so famous. Grouse may drum at any time of the year, and sometimes at night, but they do so chiefly during the morning on spring days.
The young run nimbly soon after hatching and leave their nest at once. They develop rapidly. After a week they can fly readily though they are very small. The mother Grouse, in luring an enemy from her young, employs broken-wing tactics, dragging herself over the ground as though she were badly wounded.
In the winter, Grouse develop long lateral scales on their toes which function as snow-shoes. Their neat tracks in the snow lead from a roost under a branch to which dead leaves cling, and wander about the bushes and trees where the birds have been feeding on buds, twigs, and dried berries. Grouse are especially fond of aspen, birch, beech, and maple buds. They like wild-grape vines both for the food and the shelter which they afford. During summer, Grouse eat much insect food, as well as berries and leaves. They sometimes eat hemlock needles and leaves of mountain laurel.
WILD TURKEY
Meleagris gallopavo silvestris Vieillot
Description.—Size and appearance very similar to that of the domestic bird, but tips of tail-feathers and upper tail-coverts rich deep chestnut; primaries barred with black and white; feet mahogany-red. A large Wild Turkey gobbler in spring is a magnificent creature with its rich, iridescent plumage, highly colored and wattled head, and proud carriage. Length: About 4 feet.
Range in Pennsylvania.—Once fairly common throughout the State, especially in the southern mountainous counties, but brought to the verge of extermination through forest fires, excessive hunting, and encroaches of civilization. The Game Commission has brought in some birds from other States to replenish our stock; some mingling has occurred between wild birds and domestic individuals which have wandered from the farms. Wild Turkeys are now to be found chiefly along the ridges of the South Mountain District, and seem to be holding their own fairly well. While these are not strictly the original strain, they are nevertheless wild, and are therefore fairly representative of the race which once occurred. The Wild Turkey is a permanent resident.
Nest.—A depression in the leaves, under brush, or in a thicket, usually well concealed from above. Eggs: 6 to 15, cream-buff, thickly but finely spotted with reddish brown.
The sight of a flock of Wild Turkeys coasting on their strong wings from the crest of a ridge to the lower levels is one long to be remembered. The spectacle before us, of weighty, muscular creatures hurling themselves through the air is difficult to believe, accustomed as we are to the flightless clumsiness of their cousins of the barnyard.
Having very keen senses, the Wild Turkeys are difficult to approach, for they are very wary and at the slightest warning make off on a run up the ridge, or leap into the air.
In summer, they eat many small fruits and insects, including grasshoppers, but in winter, when it is often necessary for them to scratch in the snow, they eat chestnuts and acorns, the berries of Jack-in-the-pulpit, corn if they live near the farms, and other such food as they can find. In some districts these splendid birds have difficulty in finding adequate food to carry them through the winter and in such regions the Game Protector sees that the birds are fed, and Boy Scouts, sportsmen’s organizations, and others coöperate in saving the birds.
The Wild Turkey gobbler, notably in the spring, has the same tendencies toward fighting and vainglorious display as has his domestic relative.