Grouse and Quails of North America

Abstract

22. Current Distribution of the Sage Grouse 23. Sequence of the Ventro-forward Display of the Sage Grouse 24. Current Distribution of the Blue Grouse 25. Current Distribution of the Spruce Grouse 26. Current North American Distribution of the Willow Ptarmigan 27. Current North American Distribution of the Rock Ptarmigan 229 28. Current Distribution of the White-tailed Ptarmigan 29. Current Distribution of the Ruffed Grouse 258 30. Drumming Display and Rush Display of the Ruffed Grouse 269 31. Current Distribution of Prairie Chickens 278 32. Current and Recent Distributions of the Sharp-tailed Grouse 33. Current Distributions of Tree Quails 34. Distribution of Available Records of the Barred Quail 35. Distributions of Mountain and Barred Quails 36. Current Distribution of the Scaled Quail 359 37. Current Distribution of the Gambel Quail 379 38. Distributions of the California and Elegant Quails 39. Current Continental Distributions of Bobwhites 40. Distribution of Bobwhites in Southern Mexico and Adjacent Areas 41. Current Distribution of the Spotted Wood Quail -+-+xi++Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, the Los Angeles County Museum, the Denver Museum of Natural History, the James Ford Bell Museum of Natural History in Minneapolis, and the Chicago Zoological Park. The Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology very kindly allowed me to reproduce a previousIy unpublished painting by L.A. Fuertes, and in addition provided copies of several sound recordings. Nearly all of the United States and Canadian game and wildlife agencies provided me with information about hunting seasons and, in many cases, data on estimated upland game harvests. The Secretaria de Agricultura y Ganaderia of Mexico and its director general, Dr. R. H. Corzo, facilitated my Mexican field work and provided the necessary permits for collecting specimens. Among the individuals who have personally assisted me I am particularly indebted to C. G. ("Bud") Pritchard, who painstakingly prepared five of the color paintings included in the book, and whose meticulous attention to the smallest details of feather and soft-part characteristics unfortunately cannot be adequately reproduced by the printing process. Likewise, on short notice John O'Neill set aside his other obligations to produce two stunning paintings of Mexican quail species that testify both to his great artistic abilities and to his personal familiarity with these tropical forest birds. Without the splendid paintings by these artists the book would have much less value and attractiveness. Charles Hjelte of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources very kindly allowed me to reproduce three excellent paintings done for that department by Dexter Landau, for which I am most grateful. Other persons who personally helped me are too numerous to mention individually, but I cannot neglect Andrew Prieto or Edmund Sallee, who accompanied me on my Mexican trips, or Clait Braun, James Inder, and John Lewis, who assisted me with my field work in the United States and Canada. Dr. Starker Leopold gave me val...

An intergeneric grouse hybrid (Bonasa x Canachites)

“…The Spruce Grouse and the Ruffed Grouse are sympatric over vast areas across their range in North America (A.O.U. Check-list 1957;Godfrey 1966;Johnsgard 1973). They are well distributed within their range and vary in numbers from rare to abundant, depending on local conditions and population levels.…”

“…Several intergeneric grouse hybrids have been reported in the literature (Cockrum 1952;Gray 1958;Sttiwe 1971) but no hybrid of Bonasa umbellus X Canachites canadensis appears to have been described to date (Johnsgard 1973). In conjunction with a population study of the Ruffed Grouse in Quebec, a large sample of wings and tail fans was collected from hunters' bags in Quebec provincial game reserves during the fall of 1971 by personnel of Service de la Faune du Québec.…”

Two New Late Quaternary Avifaunas from the East-Central Great Basin with the Description of a New Species of Falco

“…Only 2 species are shared among all 4 sites: Centrocercus urophasianus and Bubo virginianus. Sage-grouse occur only where extensive stands of sagebrush are present in valley bottoms (Johnsgard 1973) and are thus a good indicator species for that habitat, past and present. Great Horned Owls occupy a diversity of habitats, from tundra to coniferous forests, riparian habitats, and valley bottoms (de la Torre 1990), so the species' presence in all of the cave sites is not surprising, especially given its predilection for caves and cliffs for nesting and roosting.…”

Brood-defense behavior of a Ruffed Grouse, Bonasa umbellus

“…I presumed the small birds to be offspring of the mature grouse. I also presumed the mature grouse to be female, as male Ruffed Grouse do not participate in brooding or rearing of offspring (Bump et al 1947;Johnsgard 1973). The grouse apparently detected me before I noticed it and hid its brood among the ground cover.…”