Red grouse by sheep. Conservation measures taken on foot of the judgment have seen the population in the area double from 400 to 800. The red grouse is considered a game bird and is shot in large numbers during the shooting season which traditionally starts on August 12, known as the Glorious Twelfth. There is a keen competition among some London restaurants to serve freshly killed grouse on August 12, with the birds being flown from the moors and cooked within hours. Shooting can take the form of 'walked up' (where shooters walk across the moor to flush grouse and take a
Spruce grouse spruce grouse is now recognized as belonging to the genus "Falcipennis". Currently five subspecies are recognized: Franklin's grouse ("F. franklinii") of British Columbia and the Rocky Mountains was recently split as a distinct species from "canadensis" and also consists of the subspecies "isleibi" in Prince of Wales Island and nearby Alexander Archipelago in southeast Alaska. As a specialist of the taiga, the spruce grouse is found throughout Canada. In the United States, it is present in Alaska, northern New England, northern Michigan, northeastern Minnesota, and the montane coniferous forests of Montana, Idaho, Maine, Oregon, and Washington. Spruce grouse are always