page_title: Ruffed grouse
section_title: Taxonomy
hierarchical_section_title: Ruffed grouse / Taxonomy
context_page_description: The ruffed grouse is a medium-sized grouse occurring in forests from the Appalachian Mountains across Canada to Alaska. It is non-migratory. It is the only species in the genus Bonasa.
  The ruffed grouse is sometimes incorrectly referred to as a "partridge", an unrelated phasianid, and occasionally confused with the grey partridge, a bird of open areas rather than woodlands.
  The ruffed grouse is the state bird of Pennsylvania, United States.
context_section_description: Bonasa umbellus was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1766 12th edition of Systema Naturae. He classified it as Tetrao umbellus, placing it in a subfamily with Eurasian grouse. The genus Bonasa was applied by British naturalist John Francis Stephens in 1819. Ruffed grouse is the preferred common name because it applies only to this species. Misleading vernacular names abound, however, and it is often called partridge (sometimes rendered pa'tridge, or shortened to pat), pheasant, or prairie chicken, all of which are properly applied to other birds. Other nicknames for ruffed grouse include drummer or thunder-chicken.
  There are 14 recognized subspecies of ruffed grouse:
  B. u. yukonensis Grinnell, 1916
  B. u. umbelloides (Douglas, 1829)
  B. u. labradorensis Ouellet, 1991
  B. u. castanea Aldrich & Friedmann, 1943
  B. u. affinis Aldrich & Friedmann, 1943
  B. u. obscura Todd, 1947
  B. u. sabini (Douglas, 1829)
  B. u. brunnescens Conover, 1935
  B. u. togata (Linnaeus, 1766)
  B. u. mediana Todd, 1940
  B. u. phaios Aldrich & Friedmann, 1943
  B. u. incana Aldrich & Friedmann, 1943
  B. u. monticola Todd, 1940
  B. u. umbellus (Linnaeus, 1766)
caption: Ruffed Grouse by John J. Audubon c. 1861
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