Audubon's Birds/BIRDSVER1_3.BIN/dp/0085/00857.txt

Text File | 1992-08-27 | 30KB | 424 lines

$Unique_ID{BRD00857}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{The Ruffed Grouse}
$Subject{Tetraoninae; Tetrao; Bonasa; umbellus; Ruffed Grouse}
$Journal{Birds of America:  Volume V}
$Volume{Vol. 5:73-83}
$Family{Tetraoninae}
$Genus{Tetrao; Bonasa}
$Species{umbellus}
$Common_Name{Ruffed Grouse}
$Log{
Plate CCXCIII*00518p1.scf,33220028.aud
Bird Call*33220028.aud
Family*00516.txt
Genus*00517.txt
Figure*0051801.scf
}

            (C) (P) Library of Natural Sounds; Cornell Laboratory
       of Ornithology 1990-91, 1992; Ithaca, N.Y., All rights reserved.
       Portions copyright (c) Creative Multimedia Corp., 1990-91, 1992

                       B I R D S   O F   A M E R I C A .

                    By John James Audubon, F. R. SS. L. & E.

                   ------------------------------------------
                                    VOL.  V.
                        --------------------------------


                               THE RUFFED GROUSE.
                 [Ruffed Grouse.  State Bird of Pennsylvania.]


                             TETRAO UMBELLUS, Linn.
                               [Bonasa umbellus.]


                       PLATE CCXCIII.--MALES AND FEMALE.


     You are now presented, kind reader, with a species of Grouse, which, in my
humble opinion, far surpasses as an article of food every other land-bird which
we have in the United States, except the Wild Turkey, when in good condition.
You must not be surprised that I thus express an opinion contradictory to that
of our Eastern epicures, who greatly prefer the flesh of the Pinnated Grouse to
that of the present species, for I have had abundant opportunity of knowing
both.  Perhaps, after all, the preference may depend upon a peculiarity in my
own taste; or I may give the superiority to the Ruffed Grouse, because it is as
rarely met with in the Southern States, where I have chiefly resided, as the
Pinnated Grouse is in the Middle Districts; and were the bon-vivants of our
eastern cities to be occasionally satiated with the latter birds, as I have
been, they might possibly think their flesh as dry and flavourless as I do.
     The names of Pheasant and Partridge have been given to the present species
by our forefathers, in the different districts where it is found.  To the west
of the Alleghanies, and on those mountains, the first name is generally used.
The same appellation is employed in the Middle Districts, to the east of the
mountains, and until you enter the State of Connecticut; after which that of
Partridge prevails.
     The Ruffed Grouse, although a constant resident in the districts which it
frequents, performs partial sorties at the approach of autumn.  These are not
equal in extent to the peregrinations of the Wild Turkey, our little Partridge,
or the Pinnated Grouse, but are sufficiently so to become observable during the
seasons when certain portions of the mountainous districts which they inhabit
becomes less abundantly supplied with food than others.  These partial movings
might not be noticed, were not the birds obliged to fly across rivers of great
breadth, as whilst in the mountain lands their groups are as numerous as those
which attempt these migrations; but on the north-west banks of the Ohio and
Susquehanna rivers, no one who pays the least attention to the manners and
habits of our birds, can fail to observe them.  The Grouse approach the banks of
the Ohio in parties of eight or ten, now and then of twelve or fifteen, and, on
arriving there, linger in the woods close by for a week or a fortnight, as if
fearful of encountering the danger to be incurred in crossing the stream.  This
usually happens in the beginning of October, when these birds are in the very
best order for the table, and at this period great numbers of them are killed.
If started from the ground, with or without the assistance of a dog, they
immediately alight on the nearest trees, and are easily shot.  At length,
however, they resolve upon crossing the river; and this they accomplish with so
much ease, that I never saw any of them drop into the water.  Not more than two
or three days elapse after they have reached the opposite shore, when they at
once proceed to the interior of the forests, in search of places congenial to
the general character of their habits.  They now resume their ordinary manner of
living, which they continue until the approach of spring, when the males, as if
leading the way, proceed singly towards the country from which they had
retreated.  The females follow in small parties of three or four.  In the month
of October 1820, I observed a larger number of Ruffed Grouse migrating thus from
the States of Ohio, Illinois and Indiana into Kentucky, than I had ever before
remarked.  During the short period of their lingering along the north-west shore
of the Ohio that season, a great number of them were killed, and they were sold
in the Cincinnati market for so small a sum as 12 1/2 cents each.
     Although these birds are particularly attached to the craggy sides of
mountains and hills, and the rocky borders of rivers and small streams, thickly
mantled with evergreen trees and small shrubs of the same nature, they at times
remove to low lands, and even enter the thickest cane-brakes, where they also
sometimes breed.  I have shot some, and have heard them drumming in such places,
when there were no hills nearer than fifteen or twenty miles.  The lower parts
of the State of Indiana and also those of Kentucky, are amongst the places where
I have discovered them in such situations.
     The charming groves which here and there contrast so beautifully with the
general dull appearance of those parts of Kentucky and Tennessee, to which the
name of Barrens is given, are sought by the Ruffed Grouse.  These groves afford
them abundant food and security.  The gentle coolness that prevails in them
during the summer heat is agreeable and beneficial to these birds, and the
closeness of their undergrowth in other spots moderates the cold blasts of
winter.  There this species breeds, and is at all times to be found.  Their
drumming is to be heard issuing from these peaceful retreats in early spring, at
the same time that the booming of their relative, the Pinnated Grouse, is
recognised, as it reaches the ear of the traveller, from the different parts of
the more open country around.  In such places as the groves just mentioned, the
species now before you, kind reader, is to be met with, as you travel towards
the south, through the whole of Tennessee and the Choctaw Territory; but as you
approach the city of Natchez they disappear, nor have I ever heard of one of
these birds having been seen in the State of Louisiana.
     The mountainous parts of the Middle States being more usually the chosen
residence of this species, I shall, with your permission, kind reader, return to
them, and try to give you an account of this valuable Grouse.
     The flight of the Ruffed Grouse is straight-forward, rather low, unless
when the bird has been disturbed, and seldom protracted beyond a few hundred
yards at a time.  It is also stiff, and performed with a continued beating of
the wings for more than half its duration, after which the bird sails and seems
to balance its body as it proceeds through the air, in the manner of a vessel
sailing right before the wind.  When this bird rises from the ground at a time
when pursued by an enemy, or tracked by a dog, it produces a loud whirring
sound, resembling that of the whole tribe, excepting the Black Cock of Europe,
which has less of it than any other species.  This whirring sound is never heard
when the Grouse rises of its own accord, for the purpose of removing from one
place to another; nor, in similar circumstances, is it commonly produced by our
little Partridge.  In fact, I do not believe that it is emitted by any species
of Grouse, unless when surprised and forced to rise.  I have often been lying on
the ground in the woods or the fields for hours at a time, for the express
purpose of observing the movements and habits of different b