Great Nebraska

Naturalists and Scientists

NOU, Lawrence Bruner, Letter, 1903, July 31

July 31, 1903
Mr Marion Nelson,
Utica, Neb.
My Dear Sir:-
Yours of July 22 at hand in which you ask concerning the difference between the prairie chicken and the ruff/ grouse.
The two birds are quite distinct, the prairie chicken being the ordinary bird which is common on our prairies, and which has spike-like feathers on the sides of the neck, especially of the male birds. The ruff/ grouse, or partridge as it is sometimes called, is found only in the wooded port ons of our state, and even there is very rare. The male of this bird, instead of having long feathers at the sides of the neck, has a ruff of long feathers about the neck, and the tail is much longer than that of the prairie chicken, and when spread out forms quite a fan. It is the bird concerning which the Irishman asked “What is it that you see in the woods which begins going faster and faster until it stops entirely,” or the trumpet pheasant.
Yours very truly,