A Synopsis of the Birds of North America

by John James Audubon

GENUS I. TETRAO, Linn. GROUSE.

Bill short, robust; upper mandible with the dorsal line decurved, the ridge convex, narrowed at the base, the sides convex, the edges sharp and overlapping, the tip thin-edged and rounded; lower mandible with the angle long and wide, the dorsal line convex, the sides rounded, the edges inflected, the tip rounded. Nostrils roundish, in the fore part of the large and feathered nasal depression. Head small, ovate; neck of ordinary length; body large and full. Feet stout, of moderate length; tarsus short, feathered, at the lower part sometimes bare, and scutellate; toes bare, scutellate, with a marginal fringe of pectinate scales. Claws rather large, arched, compressed, obtuse. Plumage full, soft, rather blended. Wings rather short, convex, much rounded, the third and fourth quills longest. Tail rounded, of more than twelve feathers.

* Tarsus partially bare.

295. 1. Tetrao Umbellus, Linn. Ruffed Grouse.—Partridge Pheasant.

Plate XLI. Male and Female.

Male with the feathers of the head narrow and elongated into a decurved tuft; an erectile ruff of broad, abrupt, glossy feathers, in two tufts; tail of eighteen feathers, rounded. Upper part of head and hind part of neck bright yellowish-red, variegated with dusky; back chestnut, marked with oblong white spots, margined with black; quills brown, their outer webs pale yellowish-red, spotted with dusky; upper tail-coverts banded or spotted with black; tail reddish-yellow, narrowly barred and minutely mottled with black, and terminated by a broad band of the latter, between two narrow bands of greyish-white; a yellowish-white band from the bill to the eye, beyond which it is prolonged; throat and fore neck light brownish-yellow; lower ruff-feathers of the same colour, barred with reddish-brown, upper black, glossed with blue; lower parts yellowish-white, with broad transverse spots of dusky or brown. Female with the crest and ruff less developed, the latter of a duller black; the tints of the plumage duller than in the male. In the northern parts the plumage is generally less red, but otherwise similar.

Male, 18, 24.

Common from Maryland to Labrador, and in the interior, from the mountainous districts to Canada and the Saskatchewan. Columbia River. Resident.

Ruffed Grouse, Tetrao umbellus, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. vi. p. 46.

Tetrao umbellus, Bonap. Syn. p. 126.