The ruffed grouse inhabits deciduous forests in Canada and the northern United States. It is sometimes called “pheasant” in the South and “partridge” in the northern states. It is brown with a fan-shaped tail and black feathered ruffs on the sides of the neck. The ruffed grouse is a highly prized game bird. It is the state bird of Pennsylvania.

The spruce grouse inhabits coniferous forests in Canada and the northern United States. The male is grayish-brown with a black throat, white-spotted sides, and a chestnut-tipped tail; the female is solid brown with brown and white underparts. The spruce grouse is also called fool hen because it is easily caught.

The sage grouse, found on dry plains in southern Canada and the western United States, is the largest species of grouse in North America. The cock grows to 30 inches (75 cm). He is gray above with a black throat and belly, pointed tail, and white collar and neck plumes. The female is smaller and has gray feathers with brown bars on the head and back. During courtship, the cock inflates a pair of yellow-green air sacs to attract a hen.

The sharp-tailed grouse inhabits grasslands in the western United States and Canada. It is brown with a pointed, white-tipped tail. Other prairie species include the greater prairie chicken and lesser prairie chicken.

The most common European species is the red grouse of England and Ireland. It is rusty brown and is found on the moors. The capercaillie is found in Scotland and western Asia.

The spruce grouse is named for the food it eats. This grouse eats the thin leaves, called needles, of spruce trees, as well as the needles of other evergreen trees.

The spruce grouse lives in evergreen forests in North America. It spends most of its time in the trees, where it eats needles and small green buds from branches.

Few animals can eat evergreen needles. They are hard to digest, and it is difficult to get nutrients from them. They are even poisonous to some animals. But, the stomach of the spruce grouse can break down needles safely so the bird can use them for food.

Of course, a grouse does not sit at a drum set and play the drums with sticks! But a ruffed grouse can use its wings to make a drumming sound.

To make this sound, a ruffed grouse often perches on a log in the forest. The bird beats its wings back and forth very, very fast. The wings may beat 20 times each second. All of this wing-beating creates a thumping noise. The log amplifies the noise. A male ruffed grouse uses this drumming as a territorial display to keep other male ruffed grouses away.

The prairie-chicken is not really a chicken. Instead, it is a kind of grouse. It is called a prairie-chicken because it resembles a chicken and lives in parts of North America that were once covered with flat or rolling grassland called prairie.

Like other kinds of grouse, the male prairie-chicken likes to “show off.” He makes quite a display for female prairie-chickens. He fans his tail feathers. He points the feathers on his head straight up in the air. He also puffs out an orange air sac on each side of his neck. As if that were not enough, he continues his display by making a hooting noise that sounds like air being blown across the top of a bottle.

A ptarmigan (TAHR muh guhn) is a kind of grouse that lives in cold northern places or high mountains. Such places are covered with snow in winter.

Many galliforms have feathers that help them blend in with grasses and bushes. Ptarmigans have a coat of white feathers in winter to help them blend in with snow. This is called camouflage, and it makes it harder for a hungry fox or owl to find the ptarmigan.

When spring comes and the snow melts, the ptarmigan changes its coat. New feathers that are reddish-brown or black grow in, so that the ptarmigan can blend in with short grasses, rocks, and bushes. Ptarmigans are the only galliforms that “change coats” with the seasons.

Ptarmigans spend months living on the cold, snowy ground. But, a ptarmigan has just the right clothing for winter weather. It has a “blanket” of warm feathers and also has warm “snow boots”.

A ptarmigan’s boots are not at all like peoples’ boots. Instead, the bird has thick bunches of feathers around its feet and legs. The feet of most birds are bare. But a ptarmigan has just the right “boots” for a cold, snowy winter. In spring, the ptarmigan sheds the feathers that protect its feet and legs.

Grouse belongs to the subfamily Tetraoninae, in the family Phasianidae. The ruffed grouse is Bonasa umbellus; spruce grouse, Falcipennis canadensis; sage grouse, Centrocercus urophasianus; sharp-tailed grouse, Pedioecetes phasianellus; red grouse, Lagopus scoticus. Prairie chickens belong to the genus Tympanuchus.