WOOD-GROUSE. The remaining species of Amer ican grouse are denizens of forests. A very widely distributed form is the Canada grouse or `spruce'-partridge' (Canace Canadensis), a West ern variety of which is called Franklin's grouse or 'fool hen.' It is plentiful throughout the for ests of Canada, from Maine to Alaska, and when disturbed takes refuge in trees, whence a flock may be shot, one by one, without scaring the others away. In winter it feeds mainly on the leaves and young sprouts of the spruce, which taint its flesh. Its plumage is distinctly barred above with plumbeous and black; beneath it is black, with a white border to the throat and white across the breast and on the sides. The females show a duller mixture of yellowish orange, gray, and black. The eastern and western (Franklin's) varieties may be distinguished by their tails: that of the former is rounded and tipped with rufous, while that of the latter is nearly even, black to the tip, and has the upper tail-coverts (see BIRD) broadly tipped with pure white. A Siberian grouse (Canace falcipennis) is closely allied to this. A still larger Western
wood-grouse is the `blue,' dusky,' or 'pine' grouse (Dendragapus obscurus). It approaches the capercaillie in size, and may be regarded as the American analogue of the blackcock. Its general color is blackish brown ; the wings are lighter and the tail large, rounded, and composed of eighteen or twenty feathers. They keep in the coniferous forests for the most part, and occur throughout the mountain regions from Colorado to central California and northward. For the Arctic grouse (Lagopus), see PTARMIGAN, BIBLIOGRAPHY. Standard works of ornithology Bibliography. Standard works of ornithology and field sports. The fullest general account of American grouse is contained in Coues, Birds of the Northwest (Washington, 1874). Consult also: Leffing,well (and others), Shooting on Up land, Marsh, and Stream (Chicago, 1890) ; Sandys and others, Upland Game Birds (New York, 1902) ; Lloyd, Game Birds and Wildfowl of Sweden and Norway (London, 1867) ; Morris, British Game Birds (London, 1891). See Plate of GROUSE.