This pastel is one of two versions of a single ruffed grouse in a landscape that Audubon is known to have executed; the second is in the collection of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. Both pictures are drawn on paper bearing the watermark "J.Whatman 1810". The Harvard drawing is signed and dated June 1805, an unlikely date, given both the watermark and the fact that Audubon spent that year in Nantes, France. In a letter dated October 23, 1931, G.S. Miller, Jr., the donor of the Harvard picture, and curator of the Division of Mammals at the Smithsonian, speculates that Audubon backdated that drawing to pre-empt rival ornithologist Alexander Wilson's claim to have been the first to depict the grouse.

The ruffed grouse is found in abundance in Pennsylvania and New York, and Edward Dwight, who saw this drawing and authenticated it in a letter dated Sept. 7, 1976, thought that the Harvard pastel may have been drawn during Audubon's visit to his in-laws near Philadelphia in 1812, and the present picture made a bit later, perhaps as a gift on the occasion of Audubon's sister-in-law Eliza's marriage to Nicholas Berthoud in 1816.

The present pastel is identical in detail to the Harvard version, but more fully developed in the sky and background. The simplicity of the bird in profile is in keeping with other drawings from the early teens or before, as is the exclusive use of pencil and pastel. The extent of the landscape is unusual; Audubon's early environments are quite summary, generally showing only branches or a bit of ground and foliage. The later, more sophisticated habitats that appear in the Birds of America series were often arranged by Audubon and executed by studio assistants such as Joseph Mason. This background may have been elaborated by Audubon after the grouse was drawn to make it more suitable for presentation as a gift.

A photocopy of a photograph of Nicholas Ringeling holding this picture and photocopies of other genealogical memorabilia accompany the lot.