grouse

This member of the grouse family inhabits the high mountains, remote forests, and tundra of northern latitudes around the world. It relies mainly on camouflage for defence and, in winter, turns from a speckled greyish brown to pure white with dark tail feathers. It feeds mainly on fruit, seeds, and buds.

Plump fowl-like game bird belonging to a subfamily of the pheasant family, which also includes the ptarmigan, capercaillie, and prairie chicken. Grouse are native to North America and northern Europe. They spend most of their time on the ground. During the mating season the males undertake elaborate courtship displays in small individual territories (leks). (Subfamily Tetraonidae, family Phasianidae, order Galliformes.)

Among the most familiar are the ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus), common in woods in northern and eastern North America; the blue grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) of western North America; the greater prairie chicken (Tympanachus cupido) of North America; the dusky grouse (T. obscurus), which inhabits the Rocky Mountains; and the Canadian grouse (T. canadensis), found in Canada and the US. See also sage grouse.