Chapter XXI: Appendix: I. Additions and Corrections 499 (21)

Specimens of its eggs collected in Arizona exhibit no noteworthy differences from the _gallopavo_.

In the accompanying foot-note we reproduce an article on the origin of the domestic Turkey, by Professor Baird, published in the Report of the Agricultural Department for 1866, which contains some points of interest, bearing on the origin of the domestic Turkey and the habits of the Mexican variety.[114]

FAMILY TETRAONIDÆ.—THE GROUSE.

As already stated, the _Tetraonidæ_ are pre-eminently characterized among gallinaceous birds by their densely feathered tarsi, and by the feathers of the nasal fossa or groove, which fill it completely, and conceal the nostrils. The toes are usually naked (feathered to the claws in the Ptarmigans), and with pectinations of scales along the edges. The tail-feathers vary from sixteen to eighteen and even twenty in number; the tail is rounded, acute, or forked. The orbital region is generally somewhat bare, with a naked stripe above the upper eyelid, beset by short fringe-like processes, while many genera have an inflatable air-sac on the side of the neck.

The following synoptical table will give a general view of the North American _Tetraonidæ_, although the arrangement is more artificial than natural. The species of _Tetrao_ and _Bonasa_ inhabit wooded regions; _Lagopus_ belongs to the more arctic portions of the continent and the snowy ridges of the Rocky Mountains; the others are found in the great prairies of the West, _Centrocercus_ being confined to the sterile plains covered with sage or wormwood.

The following synopsis is intended to aid in defining the genera, but does not profess to constitute a natural arrangement.

Genera.

=A.= Legs feathered to and on the basal membrane of the toes, which
are bare. No ruff on the side of the neck, which, however, has an
extensible bare space.

=Canace.= Tail broad, nearly even, or truncate, and rounded
laterally, two thirds the wing. Nasal fossæ scarcely half the
culmen.

=Centrocercus.= Tail excessively lengthened and cuneate; longer than
the wings. Nasal fossæ two thirds the culmen. Shafts of feathers on
the lower throat very spinous.

=Pediœcetes.= Tail very short, but graduated, and with the two
middle feathers (perhaps tail-coverts) lengthened beyond the rest,
and two thirds as long as the wing; the next longest half the wing.
Nasal fossæ not half the length of culmen. Shafts of throat-feathers
normal.

=B.= Legs feathered to the lower end of tarsus.

=Cupidonia.= Tail very short, truncate, but laterally graduated;
half the wings. Sides of neck with long, pointed, or lanceolate,
stiff feathers. Nasal fossæ scarcely one third the culmen.

=C.= Legs feathered to the claws.

=Lagopus.= Tail about two thirds the wing, truncate; of sixteen to
eighteen feathers. Most species becoming white in winter; none of
the other genera exhibiting this peculiarity.

=D.= Lower half of tarsi bare, with two rows of scutellæ anteriorly.

=Bonasa.= Sides of neck with a ruff of broad, truncate, soft
feathers. Tail very broad, square, as long as the wings.

GENUS CANACE, REICHENBACH.

GEN. CHAR. Bill smooth, with no lateral groove, depressed, or broader than high. Feathers of the head and neck all normal, i.e. no crest, nor lengthened plumes of any kind. Tail lengthened (i.e. nearly equal to wing), rounded, the feathers broad to the end; consisting of from sixteen to twenty feathers. Toes naked.

Subgenera.

=Canace.= Tail of sixteen feathers; no air-sac on side of the neck.
Size small. (Type, _T. canadensis_, L.)

=Dendragapus.= Tail of twenty feathers; an inflatable air-sac on side
of the neck. Size large. (Type, _T. obscurus_, Say.)

The American species of Wood Grouse appear, on comparison, to be generically distinct from _Tetrao_, of the Old World, (type, _Tetrao urogallus_,) and, moreover, are themselves comprised under two definable subgenera. _Canace_ proper has a near relative in _Falcipennis_, Elliot, (type, _Tetrao falcipennis_, Hartlaub,) of Siberia, which differs merely in the attenuation of the primaries, and seems to us not separable from _Canace_. There is no European genus nearly related to our birds. _T. urogallus_ differs very essentially in high, compressed, and light-colored bill, elongated and stiffened feathers of the whole head and neck, metallic colors, etc. _T._ (_Lyrurus_) _tetrix_ approaches nearer in the bill, but also has metallic colors and a very peculiarly formed tail. Thus it seems absolutely necessary to adopt the name _Canace_, of Reichenbach, as a generic term by which to designate the American Wood Grouse.

SUBGENUS CANACE, REICHENBACH.

_Canace_, REICHENBACH, Av. Syst. Nat. 1851. (Type, _Tetrao
canadensis_, L.)

GEN. CHAR. Tail of sixteen feathers, rounded, the feathers broad to the end. A colored (red or yellow) “comb” of naked skin over the eye. No inflatable air-sac on side of the neck. No crest, nor unusual plumes, about the head or neck.

Species and Varieties.

=T. canadensis.= Above distinctly barred with plumbeous and black;
beneath black, with a white border to the throat, a white pectoral
band, and white markings on the sides. _Female_ barred with
ochraceous, gray and black above, and with orange-ochraceous and black
on the lower parts.

Tail rounded, tipped with rufous; upper tail-coverts tipped narrowly
with deep ash. _Hab._ British America, east of the Rocky Mountains,
from Alaska (Yukon region) to northern border of United States …

var. _canadensis_.

Tail nearly even, black to the tip, or else with a narrow white
terminal bar; upper tail-coverts broadly tipped with pure white.
_Hab._ Northern Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast …

var. _franklini_.

Canace canadensis, var. canadensis, LINN.

SPRUCE PARTRIDGE; CANADA GROUSE.

_Tetrao canadensis_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, 1758, 159.—FORSTER, Phil.
Trans. LXII, 1772, 389.—SABINE, Zoöl. App. Franklin’s Exped.
683.—BONAP. Amer. Orn. III, 1830, pl. xxi, f. 2, ♀.—IB. Am. Phil.
Trans. III, N. S. 1830, 391.—RICH. F. Bor. Amer. II, 1831, 346,
pl. lxii, ♀.—NUTTALL, Man. I, 1832, 667.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834,
437; V, 1839, 563, pl. clxxvi.—IB. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 83, pl.
cclxciv.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 622.—MAYNARD, B. E. Mass. 1870, 138
(Massachusetts).—COUES, P. A. N. S. 1861, 226.—GRAY, Cat. Brit. Mus.
1867, 86.—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Chicago Ac. I, 1869, 287.—FINSCH, Abh.
Nat. Verz. III, 1872, 61. _Canace canadensis_, REICH. Av. Syst. Nat.
1851, p. xxix. Type, BONAP. Comptes Rendus, XLV, 1857, 428.—ELLIOT,
P. A. N. S. 1864, 23.—IB. Monog. Tetraon. pl. _Tetrao canace_, LINN.
Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 275. _Black Spotted Heathcock_, EDWARDS, Glean.
pl. cxviii. _Spotted Grouse_, PENNANT.

SP. CHAR. Tail of sixteen feathers. Above black. Feathers above distinctly banded with plumbeous; beneath uniform black, with a pectoral band of white, and white on the sides of the belly. Chin and throat above, black. Tail with a broad brownish-orange terminal band. Length, 16.20; wing, 6.70; tail, 5.44.

_Female_ smaller, but somewhat similar; the black bars above broader, the inner gray bars of each feather, including the tail, replaced by broader ones of brownish-orange. The under parts have the feathers black, barred with the brownish-orange, which, on the tips of the belly-feathers, is pure white. The clear continuous black of the head and breast is wanting. The scapulars, greater coverts, and sides are streaked as in the male.

A female (No. 39,136, G. A. Boardman) from Maine differs from the above description in having the ground of the plumage a bright orange-rufous, the distinct bars of which are broader than the black ones; this is probably an autumnal bird, and represents the peculiar plumage of that season.

_Males_ vary, individually, in the extent or uniformity of the black of the breast.

Specimens from Alaska (Nulato, Kodiak, etc.), Red River, Liard’s River and Fort Liard, Hudson’s Bay Territory, Canada, and Maine, appear to be absolutely identical.

The young in downy state are pale buff-yellow; the head above, with the back and wings, pale fulvous; a black stripe on side of head (from bill to end of auriculars), two spots on crown, and transverse crescentic spots on back and wings, black.

HAB. Spruce forests and swamps of the Northern United States to the Arctic seas; west nearly to Rocky Mountains.

HABITS. This bird, variously known as the Spruce or Wood Partridge, Canada, Black, or Spotted Grouse, is found, in favorable localities, from the Northern United States as far north as the woods extend, to the Arctic Ocean, being found, even in midwinter, nearly to the 70th parallel. Sir John Richardson found all the thick and swampy black-spruce forests between Canada and the Arctic Sea abounding with this species. In winter it descends into Maine, Northern New York, and Michigan. Its migrations are, however, only partial, as it is found in the severest weather of midwinter, in considerable numbers, as far north as latitude 67°. According to Mr. Douglas, west of the Rocky Mountains it is replaced by the _T. franklini_. This bird is said to perch in trees, in flocks of eight or ten, and is so stupid that it may be taken by slipping a noose, fastened to the end of a stick, over its head. When disturbed, it flies heavily a short distance, and then alights again among the interior branches of a tree. Richardson invariably found its crop filled with the buds of the spruce-trees in the winter, and at that time its flesh was very dark and had a strong resinous taste. In districts where the _Pinus banksiana_ grows it is said to prefer the buds of that tree. In the summer it feeds on berries, which render its flesh more palatable.

Captain Blakiston states that he has found this species as far west as Fort Carlton, and Mr. Ross has traced it northward on the Mackenzie to the Arctic coast.

Mr. Audubon met with it in Maine, in the vicinity of Eastport, where they were only to be met with in the thick and tangled forests of spruce and hackmatack. They were breeding in the inner recesses of almost impenetrable woods of hackmatack or larches. He was informed that they breed in that neighborhood about the middle of May, a full month sooner than they do in Labrador. In their love-season the males are said to exhibit many of the singular manners also noticeable in the other members of this family. They strut before the female on the ground, something in the manner of the common domestic Turkey-cock, occasionally rising in a spiral manner above her in the air; at the same time, both when on the ground and in the air, they beat their wings violently against their body, thereby producing a peculiar drumming sound, which is said to be much clearer than the well-known drumming of the Ruffed Grouse. These sounds can be heard at a considerable distance from the place where they are made.

The female constructs a nest of a bed of dry twigs, leaves, and mosses, which is usually carefully concealed, on the ground and under low horizontal branches of fir-trees. The number of eggs is said to vary from eight to eighteen in number. It is imagined by the common people that where more than ten eggs are found in the same nest they are the product of two females, who aid each other in their charge. The eggs are described by Audubon as of a deep fawn-color, irregularly splashed with different tints of brown. They have but a single brood in a season, and the young follow the mother as soon as they leave the shell.

As soon as incubation commences, the males desert the females and keep in small flocks by themselves, removing to different woods, where they usually become much more shy and wary than at any other season of the year.

In their movements on the ground these birds are said to resemble our common Quail, rather than the Ruffed Grouse. They do not jerk their tails in the manner of the latter bird, as they walk, nor are they known to burrow in the snow; but when they are pursued they invariably take refuge in trees, from which they cannot be readily made to fly. When driven from one place of refuge to another, they accompany their flight with a few _clucks_, and those sounds they repeat when they alight. When a flock thus alights, it may all be readily secured by a little precaution and pains. It is said that they are so unwary and regardless of the near presence of man, that when thus in the imagined shelter of a tree they will permit themselves to be approached, the whole flock shot, or even knocked down with a stick. Sometimes they may all be taken alive, one after the other, by means of a noose affixed to the end of a long pole.

According to Audubon, the Canada Grouse indicate the approach of rainy weather by retiring to roost at an unusual time in the day, whenever a storm is impending. If observed to fly up to their roost at midday, it rarely fails to rain or snow before the evening; and if, on the contrary, they remain busily engaged in search of food until sunset, the night and the following morning are pretty sure to be fresh and clear.

The young of this Grouse are very strong and active from the moment they are hatched, and are able to fly at a very early age. When in Labrador, Mr. Audubon almost walked, by accident, upon a female Canada Grouse, surrounded by her young brood. This was about the middle of July. The affrighted mother, upon perceiving him, ruffled up all her feathers in the manner of the common Hen, and advanced close to him as if determined to defend her offspring. Her distressed condition claimed his forbearance, and she was allowed to remain in safety. As soon as he retired she smoothed down her plumage and uttered a tender maternal chuck, when the little ones took to their wings with ease, though they appeared to be not more than one week old.

Mr. Audubon found this Grouse moulting as early as the 20th of July. At that period the young were generally already able to fly fully a hundred yards in a single flight. They alighted on low trees and were easily taken alive.

This Grouse feeds, in the summer, on berries of various kinds, as well as upon the buds and leaves of several different kinds of plants and shrubs. In the autumn they gorge themselves with the berries of the Solomon’s Seal. At this season their flesh is much the best. In the winter, when they feed on the buds of the hackmatack and the spruce and firs, and also upon the leaves of the spruces, as stated by Richardson, they have a bitter, disagreeable taste, and are hardly fit to eat.

This Grouse may be readily kept in confinement, and even made to breed there. Mr. Thomas Lincoln, of Dennysville, fed some of them on oats, on which food they appeared to thrive very well.

The eggs of this food vary in length from 1.75 inches to 1.68, and in breadth from 1.22 to 1.20 inches. Eggs taken at Fort Resolution, by Mr. Kennicott, have a ground of a deep dull cream-color, shaded with ochre. They are of an oblong-oval shape, speckled and marked with spots of a dark chestnut-color. In these specimens the spots are larger towards the smaller end.

Canace canadensis, var. franklini, DOUGLAS.

FRANKLIN’S GROUSE.

_Tétrao franklini_, DOUGLAS, Trans. Linn. Soc. XVI, 1829, 139.—RICH.
F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 348, pl. lxi.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858,
623.—LORD, Pr. R. A. Inst. IV, 1864, 123 (between Rocky Mountains
and Cascades).—GRAY, Cat. Brit. Mus. 1867, 86.—COOPER & SUCKLEY,
261.—COOP. Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 529. _Tetrao canadensis_, var. BONAP.
Am. Orn. III, 1830, 47, pl. xx. _? Tetrao fusca_, ORD. Guthrie’s
Geog. (2d Am. ed.) II, 1815, 317. (Based on small brown Pheasant of
Lewis & Clark, II, 182, which very probably is this species.) _Canace
franklini_, ELLIOT, P. A. N. S. 1864.—IB. Monog. Tetraon. pl.

SP. CHAR. Similar to _C. canadensis_, but with the tail-feathers entirely black, without orange-brown terminal band; the upper tail-coverts broadly tipped with white. The tail less rounded. Wing, 7.35; tail, 5.62.

_Hab._ Northern Rocky Mountains, near the United States boundary, and west to Coast Range.

The difference from _canadensis_ is very appreciable, though we cannot consider it as of specific importance. This consists chiefly in the rather longer, more even tail, with broader feathers, which are pure black instead of very dark brown, and entirely without the orange terminal band. The white streaks on the scapulars are larger terminally, and much more conspicuous, and the upper tail-coverts are conspicuously barred terminally with white, not seen in the other. The female differs from that of _canadensis_ in the white bars at the ends of the tail-coverts, and in having the tail-feathers tipped with whitish instead of orange-brown.

HABITS. From the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, and from Oregon to high northern latitudes, this variety replaces the common Spruce Partridge of the Eastern Continent. Sir John Richardson, as well as Mr. Drummond, regarded these birds as only a western variety of the _canadensis_. The latter, who had ample opportunities for studying the manners of both, was unable to perceive any difference between them. Mr. Douglas took a different view, though he admitted that their habits were essentially the same. Swainson also regarded the two birds as distinct species. This variety is stated by Richardson to inhabit the valleys of the Rocky Mountains, from the sources of the Missouri to those of the Mackenzie; and on the authority of Mr. Douglas, it is also to be seen sparingly on the elevated platforms that skirt the snowy peaks of Mount Hood, Mount St. Helens, and of Mount Baker, where it is said to run over the shattered rocks and among the brushwood with amazing speed, only using its wings as a last effort to escape. Mr. Douglas also states that it makes its nest on the ground, of dried leaves and grass, not unfrequently at the foot of decayed stumps, or by the side of fallen timber in the mountain woods. The eggs are incorrectly described as of a dingy whiteness and as smaller than those of the European _Columba palumbus_.

Dr. Suckley found this Grouse abundant in the Rocky as well as in the Bitterroot and the Cascade Mountains, and in Washington Territory, near the Yakima Passes. It is known to the Indians as the _Tyee-kulla-kulla_, meaning the _gentleman-bird_. It was only found plentiful in the eastern portion of Washington Territory. Specimens of this species, sent by Dr. Suckley to the Smithsonian Institution, were procured by Mullan in St. Mary’s Valley, in the Rocky Mountains. They were quite common in that region, and were readily obtainable, as they were very tame and unsuspicious. Mr. George Gibbs informed Dr. Suckley that in November, 1847, he obtained in the Willamette Valley a small Grouse that may probably be referred to this species.

Mr. Lord thinks that this species is rarely found west of the Cascades; but on the eastern side and along the whole district lying between the Cascades and the Rocky Mountains it is common, always keeping among the mountains, to the height of seven thousand feet. He regards them as one of the most stupid of birds. When several are flushed together, they fly up into the nearest pine-tree, from which you cannot frighten them with sticks and stones. He has often shot several in a tree where there were others without the latter attempting to fly away. During the winter they remain in the deep woods and sheltered places, and feed on the buds of the pines. They nest in early May, and have chickens in June and July. He was of the opinion that these birds do not pair; but from the large number of females, as compared with the males, he thinks they are polygamists.

Captain Blakiston considers this variety to be confined to the Rocky Mountains and the country between that range and the Pacific. He met with it for the first time while following an Indian trail through a thick pine woods, from the summit of the Kootenay Pass into the valley of the Flathead River. The bird arose and perched itself on a projecting branch, when he was at once struck with the dissimilarity to the Canada Grouse, which was made still more apparent by the whiteness of its flesh. Afterwards he procured other specimens. He describes them as being quite as unsuspicious and stupid as the Canada Grouse, allowing themselves to be shot on the trees without making any attempt to escape.

SUBGENUS DENDRAGAPUS, ELLIOT.

_Dendragapus_, ELLIOT, P. A. N. S. Philad. 1864. (Type, _Tetrao
obscurus_, SAY.)

GEN. CHAR. Tail of twenty feathers, rounded, rather large (about two thirds the wing); the feathers broad to the tips, which are almost truncated. A colored (orange or yellow) “comb” of naked skin over the eye, and an inflatable air-sac on side of the neck. No crest or other unusual plumes about the head or neck.

_Tetrao obscurus._]

Species and Varieties.

=C. obscurus.= Above nearly uniform plumbeous-dusky, minutely
mottled on the wings. Tail uniform black, with or without a lighter
terminal band, and sometimes finely and obscurely mottled above.
Lower parts nearly uniform clear plumbeous, or blackish-dusky; a
dusky half-collar on the throat; chin and throat white, variegated
with dusky. Length, about 20.50; wing, 9.40; tail, 7.45. _Female_
smaller, the colors more variegated, with the dusky less continuous,
and less in amount.

=A.= Tail rounded, with a distinct terminal band of clear plumbeous.

Above brownish-ashy, minutely mottled (transversely) with dusky
and, to a less extent, with yellowish-brown. Beneath fine pure
ashy. _Hab._ Sierra Nevada (from Fort Crook southwards) and Rocky
Mountains, from the Hellgate region to New Mexico …

var. _obscurus_.

Above brownish-black, minutely and sparsely mottled with
slate and rusty-brown. Beneath dark plumbeous. (In northern
specimens, especially in females from Sitka, much washed with dark
castaneous-rusty.) _Hab._ Northwest coast mountains, from Oregon
to Sitka …

var. _fuliginosus_.

=B.= Tail nearly even, and without any terminal lighter band, or else
having it badly defined.

Colors, in other respects, of var. obscurus, but cheeks, etc.,
less dusky. _Hab._ Rocky Mountains of British America, south
to the Yellowstone and Hellgate region of United States (where
grading into var. _obscurus_) …

var. _richardsoni_.

[Plate: PLATE LIX.

1. Canace obscurus. ♂ Rocky Mts., 19159.
2. Canace obscurus. ♀ Rocky Mts., 19166.
3. Canace franklini. ♂ Rocky Mts., 398.
4. Canace richardsoni. N. Rocky Mts.
5. Canace canadensis. ♂ Nova Scotia, 12564.
6. Canace canadensis. ♀ Nova Scotia, 12565.]

Canace obscurus, var. obscurus, SAY.

DUSKY GROUSE.

_Tetrao obscurus_, SAY, Long’s Exped. R. Mts. II, 1823, 14.—BON. Mon.
_Tetrao_, Am. Phil. Trans. III, 1830, 391.—IB. Am. Orn. III, 1830, pl.
xviii.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 620.—SCL. P. Z. S. 1858, 1.—GRAY,
Cat. Brit. Mus. V, 1867, 86.—COOP. Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 526 (in part).
_Canace obscura_, BONAP. Comptes Rendus, XLV, 1857, 428. _Dendragapus
obscurus_, ELLIOT, P. A. N. S. 1864, 23.—IB. Monog. Tetraon. pl.

SP. CHAR. _Male_ (19,161, Deer Creek, Neb., Feb. 13; G. H. Trook.) Ground-color above slaty-black, but this almost completely overlaid by a minute, transverse mottling of bluish-ash,—pale brown on scapulars and secondaries,—mostly on terminal portion of the feathers. Scapulars with a conspicuous shaft-streak and terminal spot of white. Terminal band of tail sharply and abruptly defined, pure pale bluish-ash, and 1.50 inches in width. Tail slightly rounded (about .80). Lower parts fine bluish-ashy, becoming lighter posteriorly, more plumbeous anteriorly. On the sides of the jugulum the feathers snowy-white beneath the surface, and this much exposed, producing a somewhat broken but conspicuous patch. Throat white, with transverse crescentic bars of dusky; this barred white curving upward to the auriculars, behind a uniformly blackish malar patch; lores and post-ocular region with distinct white spots, producing an inconspicuous stripe from the bill through the eye. All the feathers of the lower parts margined terminally with white, this growing broader on the flanks and crissum, the former of which have a more brownish and mottled ground, and broad white shaft-stripes. Lining of wing almost wholly white. Tarsi ashy-white. Length, 21.00; wing, 10.00; tail, 8.00; tarsus, 1.80; middle toe, 1.80.

_Female_ (58,636, Uintah Mountains, July 5, 1868; R. Ridgway). Somewhat similar to male in pattern. Dusky-black above, much broken by narrow transverse bars of yellowish-brown; these broad, regular, and sharply defined anteriorly, posteriorly broken and mottled. Middle tail-feathers much mottled, obscuring the ashy tip: ash beneath unbroken only on the abdomen; the jugulum, sides, etc., having transverse bars of yellowish-brown. Wing, 8.70; tail, 6.00.

_Young_ (58,658, Uintah Mountains, July 5, 1868; R. Ridgway). Above yellowish-brown, the feathers with conspicuous shaft-streaks and deltoid terminal spots of white; both webs with large, transverse, roundish spots of black; secondaries with six bands of black and white, both broken, however, by coarse mottlings; tail like the secondaries. Beneath dull whitish; jugulum and sides with rounded spots of black, those on opposite webs not joining. Head yellowish-white, crown spotted with black; an indistinct dusky stripe over lores and upper edge of auriculars.

HAB. Rocky Mountain region of the United States, principally south of South Pass, and Sierra Nevada, north to Oregon and south to San Francisco Mountains, New Mexico.

The “Dusky Grouse” figured and described by Mr. Audubon of this species, is not the bird of Say, nor based on specimens collected by Townsend. The figures were probably taken from the skins in possession of Mr. Sabine, referred to by Bonaparte in American Ornithology (Vol. III, 1828, 36), which Sabine proposed to name after Richardson. Douglas, in describing his _Tetrao richardsoni_, quotes “Sabine MSS.,” but does not describe his specimens, and, as far as his incomplete description goes, seems to have had the true _T. obscurus_ before him. Richardson’s description and figure belong to the second species, the same with Audubon’s. Wilson’s figures, in Illustrations of Zoölogy, 1831 (plates xxx, xxxi), are taken from specimens received from Mr. Sabine, of the same species, but in different and less perfect plumage than Mr. Audubon’s.

HABITS. This species was first discovered and described by Say in 1820, though its existence had previously been known to the fur-trappers. Its food consists of various berries, and the flesh is said to be very palatable.

Dr. Newberry pronounces this Grouse decidedly the handsomest of all the American birds of this family; its flesh white, and fully equal to that of the eastern Ruffed Grouse or Quail. It is said to inhabit the evergreen forests exclusively, and to be found not uncommonly in the Sierra Nevada, as well as in the wooded districts of the country lying between the Sacramento Valley and the Columbia. In the Cascade Mountains Dr. Newberry found it associated with the Ruffed Grouse, which it resembles in habits more than any other species. When on the ground they lie very close, flying up from your very feet as you approach them, and, when flushed, always take to a tree, from which they cannot be dislodged except by shooting them. In the spring the male sits motionless on a branch of a pine or a spruce, and utters a booming call, which, by its remarkable ventriloquial powers, seems rather to mislead than to direct the sportsman, unless he is experienced in shooting this kind of Grouse.

Mr. George Gibbs informed Dr. Suckley that he has met with the Dusky Grouse as far south as the Russian River Mountains, in California, and found it also common on the east side of the Cascades, as far north as the 49th parallel.

Dr. Cooper’s account of these birds is substantially similar to the account given by Dr. Suckley of the _fuliginosus_. He found it common in most of the forests, especially in the dense spruce woods near the coast. It was rarely seen on the open prairie. In the dense woods it was exceedingly difficult to detect. During May, near the coast, and till August, on the mountains, the low tooting of this Grouse was heard everywhere, sounding something like the cooing of a Pigeon, but in the same deep tone as the drumming of the Ruffed Grouse. Dr. Cooper also mentions its remarkable powers of ventriloquism, so that while the bird may be sitting on a tree directly over your head the sound seems to come from places quite remote.

Dr. Woodhouse states that the Dusky Grouse is found among the mountains about Santa Fé, in New Mexico.

This Grouse was first met with by Mr. Ridgway on the Sierra Nevada, in the vicinity of Carson City, where it was seen in the possession of Indians who had been hunting on the mountains. It was found on the East Humboldt Mountains, in the month of September, and at that time occurred in small flocks, consisting chiefly of young birds, and probably composed of single families. Afterwards, in the summer of 1869, it was found in considerable abundance in Parley’s Park, a few miles from Salt Lake City. It there chiefly inhabited the copses of scrub-oaks along the lower border of coniferous woods. In July it was found in the Uintah Mountains in very great abundance, and for a while formed the chief subsistence of the party. It was there known as the Mountain Grouse. Nothing very distinctive was ascertained in regard to its habits, except that it was said to resemble very closely, in manners, the Ruffed Grouse. Its flesh was excellent eating.

Dr. Suckley, in a series of papers on the Grouse of the United States which were read before the New York Lyceum in 1860, states that this species probably extend their range to quite a distance south of latitude 40° along the line of the Rocky Mountains, in New Mexico. This writer claimed to have met with them near Pike’s Peak, in the Cheyenne Pass, and in 1853 he found them in great numbers in Lewis and Clarke’s Pass, west of Fort Benton. He also found them abundantly in Oregon and on the slopes of the Cascade and Coast Ranges, extending wherever pine or fir timber occurs, to the very borders of the ocean. The Black Hills, in Nebraska, he gives as their most eastern limit.

The same author corrects the statements of Douglas as to certain habits of this species. The males are said not to be particularly pugnacious, and very rarely forsake the boughs of the pine or fir trees for a rocky eminence. They feed on berries only during a brief season in autumn, at all other times of the year subsisting upon the leaves of the pine and fir, especially those of the Douglas Fir. This food imparts a strong resinous flavor to the flesh of this Grouse, which, however, is not unpleasant, and after a while becomes quite attractive to the epicure. The love-notes of this bird are said to be deep, soft, plaintive, but unmusical, and resemble the whirring sounds made by a rattan, swung rapidly and in jerks through the air. These notes usually begin the first week in March. The young are able to fly feebly by the first of July. By the last of August they have attained their full size. In the winter they retire to the tops of the loftiest firs, where they pass the season in an almost immovable state of hibernation. Between July and winter they may be readily shot. Once raised, they invariably fly to trees. They heed but little the report of a gun unless they have been wounded. Their flesh is said to be midway between the color of the Pinnated and the Ruffed Grouse, partaking of their good qualities, but surpassing either.

The eggs of this species are oval in shape; one end is a little more obtuse than the other. The ground is of a pale cream-color, and is marked with small rounded spots of reddish-brown. These are more numerous and larger towards the larger end. They measure 1.95 inches in length and 1.45 in breadth.

Canace obscurus, var. fuliginosus, RIDGWAY.

OREGON DUSKY GROUSE.

_? Tetrao obscurus_, NEWBERRY, P. R. R. Rept. VI, iv, 1857, 93.—COOP.
& SUCKL. 219.—LORD, Pr. R. A. Inst. IV, 122 (British Columbia).—DALL &
BANNISTER, Trans. Chicago Ac. I, 1869, 287 (Alaska).—FINSCH, Ab. Nat.
III, 1872, 61 (Alaska).

SP. CHAR. Beneath plain dark plumbeous, without whitish borders to the feathers except on flanks and crissum; whole head almost uniformly plain dusky-black. Tarsi dark plumbeous. Wing, 9.50; tail, 7.50; tarsus, 1.75; middle toe, 1.80.

_Female_ (11,826, Chiloweyuck Depot, Washington Territory, Aug. 6, 1858; C. B. Kennerly). Above black, broken by transverse mottlings of bright reddish-brown or rufous; these confused posteriorly, but in form of regular transverse bars anteriorly. Below dusky-plumbeous, plain on abdomen, with sagittate spots on jugulum, and deltoid ones on the flanks, etc., of reddish-white. Length, 20.00; wing, 8.50; tail, 6.30.

_Adult male_ (4,505, Cascade Mountains, Dr. Newberry). Above plain fuliginous-black, the mottlings scarcely apparent. No white markings on scapulars; tail-band deep plumbeous, only .60 wide, but well defined.

_Young_ (11,827, Chiloweyuck Depot). Similar to, but much more reddish than, young of var. _obscurus_.

HAB. Northwest coast region, from Oregon to Sitka.

A male (46,070, May, 1866; Bischoff) from Sitka is much mottled with bright reddish-rusty on the dorsal region, and washed with the same on the forehead. (Tail-band .60 of an inch wide). A female (46,073, Sept., 1866) from same locality is so strongly washed with dark, almost castaneous, ferruginous as to appear mostly of this color above, this being very bright on the crown and forehead.

HABITS. This race is the more northern and northwestern coast form of the Dusky Grouse, and is found from the Columbia River and British Columbia to Alaska. According to Dr. Suckley, it is generally known as the Blue Grouse in Oregon, and is also called the Pine Grouse, as well as the Dusky Grouse. He met with it for the first time when his party had reached the main chain of the Rocky Mountains, and where they found it exceedingly abundant, as afterwards in the Blue Mountains of Oregon, the Cascade Mountains, and in all the timbered country between the Coast Range and the Pacific Ocean. About the middle of November these birds are said to entirely disappear, and it is very rare to meet with even a single individual between that period and the 20th of the following March. As to their whereabouts during this period there is a great difference of opinion among the settlers. Some maintain that they are migratory and retire to the south. Others are of the opinion that they retire to the tops of the highest evergreen trees, where they pass the cold season in a state of partial torpor among the thickest foliage of the branches. As these birds are known to subsist on the leaves of the _Coniferæ_, and can always obtain sufficient water from the snow and rain-drops to supply their wants, Dr. Suckley was inclined to favor the latter explanation of their absence. He saw one of these birds on the ground during a fall of snow, in January, near the Nisqually River, in Washington Territory, and he was informed that a hunter near Olympia, whose eyesight was remarkably excellent, was able, any day during the winter, to obtain several birds by searching carefully for them among the tree-tops of the tallest and most thickly leaved firs. This requires much better eyesight than most men possess, for these birds are of a sombre hue, crowd very closely to the limb, and sit there immovable. They are therefore very difficult to find among the dense branches.

The first indication of their presence in spring is the courting call of the male. This is a prolonged sound, resembling the whir of a rattan cane moved rapidly through the air. This is repeated several times with considerable rapidity, and then stops for a brief interval. This is said to be produced by the alternate inflation and contraction of sacs, one on each side of the throat, which are usually concealed by the feathers, and are covered by an orange-colored, thick, corrugated skin. At Fort Steilacoom these birds were very abundant during the spring and early summer, and were mostly confined to the forests of firs. Later in the season, and after hatching, they are more generally found on the ground in search of berries and seeds. When alarmed, they seek safety among the dense foliage of the trees, seeming instinctively to understand the advantage of thus hiding. He has known an entire flock of five, concealed among the ferns and grass, to be shot one by one, without an attempt being made by a single individual to fly. This Grouse is said to be a very fine table bird, its pine taste only adding to its game-flavor. Their full weight is from 2¾ to 3½ pounds.

Dr. Cooper never met with the nest of eggs of either of the races of the Dusky Grouse, but in June flocks of half-grown young were killed by the Indians near Puget Sound. In winter they were so rarely seen west of the mountains that they are believed to keep entirely in the trees. In October, 1853, he saw a flock running through the snow near the Spokane Plains, one of which was shot; but he never afterwards met with any in the winter.

Mr. J. K. Lord found this Grouse almost exclusively on the western side of the Rocky Mountains. It appeared at Vancouver, at Nisqually, and along the banks of the Fraser River, about the end of March, the male bird announcing his coming by a kind of love-song. This is a booming noise, repeated at short intervals, and so deceptive that Mr. Lord has often stood under the tree where the bird was perched and imagined the sound came from a distance.

Mr. Nuttall found this Grouse breeding in the shady forests of the region of the Columbia, where he saw or heard them throughout the summer. He describes the tooting made by the male as resembling the sound caused by blowing into the bung-hole of a barrel. They breed on the ground, and are said to keep the brood together all winter.

Townsend describes the eggs as numerous, of a cinereous-brown color, blunt at both ends, and small for the bird. The actions of the female, when the young are following her, are said to be exactly similar to those of the Ruffed Grouse, employing all the artifices of that bird in feigning lameness, etc., to draw off intruders.

Canace obscurus, var. richardsoni, DOUGLAS.

RICHARDSON’S DUSKY GROUSE.

_Tetrao obscurus_, AUD. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 446, pl. ccclxv.—IB. Syn.
1839, 283.—IB. B. Am. I, 1842, 89.—NUTT. Orn. I, 1840, 609.—SWAINS.
F. B. A. II, 1831, 344, pl. lix, lx. _Tetrao richardsoni_, DOUGL.
Linn. Trans. XVI, 141.—LORD, Pr. R. A. I. IV, 122 (between Cascade and
Rocky Mountains).—GRAY, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. V, 1867, 86. _Dendragapus
richardsoni_, ELLIOT, P. A. N. S. 1864, 23.—IB. Monog. Tetraon,
pl.—WILSON, Illust. 1831, pl. xxx, xxxi.

SP. CHAR. Tail-feathers broad and nearly truncated; tail almost perfectly square, and black to the tip, with the terminal band either only faintly indicated or entirely wanting; in all other respects exactly like var. _obscurus_. _Male_ (18,397, Browns Cut off. N. Rocky Mountains; Lieutenant Mullan). Length, about 20.00; wing, 9.00; tail, 7.30; tarsus, 1.70; middle toe, 1.85. _Female_ (18,398, forty miles west of Fort Benton; Lieutenant Mullan). Wing, 8.60; tail, 6.00; tarsus, 1.60; middle toe, 1.60.

HAB. Rocky Mountains of British America, south to the Yellowstone and Hellgate region of the United States.

No. 18,377, Hellgate, and others from localities where this form and var. _obscurus_ approach each other, have the terminal zone of the tail of the usual width, and even sharply defined; but it is so dark as to be scarcely distinguishable from the ground-color.

HABITS. In regard to distinctive peculiarities in habits and manners, of this form of Grouse, if it possesses any, our information is quite limited. In its external markings and in size it appears to be readily distinguishable from the _T. obscurus_ either specifically or as a well-marked interior race. Mr. J. K. Lord refers to it in his account of the _obscurus_, where he states that between the Cascades and the Rocky Mountains the Dusky Grouse appears to be replaced by a well-marked variety, if not a distinct species. In size it is a trifle smaller, but the great mark of distinction is the entire absence of the white band at the end of the tail. In their habits, in their periods of arrival and departure, or rather of appearance and disappearance, the two varieties are pronounced to be, in every respect, similar. In regard to their unexplained disappearance and reappearance, Mr. Lord is of the opinion that these birds do not migrate, but only retire into the thickest trees, and, living on the buds, pass the winter thus sheltered in the tree-tops.

Captain Blakiston thinks that this species is the form that inhabits the interior of British North America, and refers the figure of the male in Richardson’s _Fauna_ to the _richardsoni_,—the Black-tailed and smaller species. In his wanderings he met with these birds only in or near the pine woods on the slopes of the Rocky Mountains; but, having killed only females, he could not feel certain of the species. These Grouse range towards the Pacific as far as the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and British Columbia, and along the Rocky Mountains from the head-waters of the Platte to the Liard River, a tributary of the Mackenzie. When the ranges of the two species are fully defined, he thinks the _T. richardsoni_ will be found the more northern bird.

The eggs of _Tetrao richardsoni_ are very similar, except in size, to those of the _obscurus_, resembling them closely in their ground-color, as well as in their markings. In the specimens in the cabinet of the Boston Natural History Society the spots are smaller, a little less distinct, and less numerous. The eggs are 1.75 inches in length, and from 1.35 to 1.36 inches in breadth.

GENUS CENTROCERCUS, SWAINSON.

_Centrocercus_, SWAINSON, F. B. A. II, 1831, 496. (Type, _Tetrao
urophasianus_, BON.)

GEN. CHAR. Tail excessively lengthened (longer than the wings), cuneate, the feathers all lanceolate and attenuate. Lower throat and sides of the neck with stiffened, apparently abraded, spinous feathers. Nasal fossæ extending very far forward, or along about two thirds of the culmen. Color mottled yellowish-grayish and dusky above; beneath whitish with black abdominal patch. Stomach not muscular, but soft, as in the Raptorial birds!

Centrocercus urophasianus, (BON.) SW.

SAGE-COCK; COCK OF THE PLAINS.

_Tetrao urophasianus_, BONAP. Zool. Jour. III, Jan. 1828, 214.—IB.
Am. Orn. III, 1830, pl. xxi, f. 1.—IB. Mon. _Tetrao_, in Trans. Am.
Phil. Soc. N. S. III, 1830, 390.—DOUGLAS, Trans. Linn. Soc. XVI, 1829,
133.—NUTTALL, Man. I, 1832, 666.—AUD. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 503, pl.
ccclxxi.—IB. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 106, pl. ccxcvii.—NEWBERRY, Zoöl.
Cal. & Or. Route, Rep. P. R. R. Surv. VI, iv, 1857, 95.—MAX. Cab.
J. VI, 1858, 431.—WILSON, Illust. 1831, pl. xxvi, xxvii. _Tetrao
(Centrocercus) urophasianus_, SW. F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 358, pl.
lviii.—GRAY, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. III, 46, 1844.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am.
1858, 624.—COOP. & SUCKL. 222.—JARD. Game Birds, Nat. Lib. IV, 140,
pl. xvii.—ELLIOT, P. A. N. S, 1864.—IB. Monog. Tetraon. pl.—GRAY,
Cat. Brit. Mus. V, 1867, 87.—COOP. & SUCK. 222.—COOP. Orn. Cal. I,
1870, 536. _Centrocercus urophasianus_, JARDINE, Game Birds, Nat. Lib.
Birds, IV, 140, pl. xvii. _?? Tetrao phasianellus_, ORD, Guthrie’s
Geog. (2d Am. ed.) II, 1815, 317, based on Lewis & Clark, II, 181.
_Cock of the Plains_, LEWIS & CLARK, II, 180, sp. 2.

SP. CHAR. Tail-feathers twenty. Above varied with black, grayish-brown, and brownish-yellow; coverts having all the feathers streaked with the latter. Beneath black; the breast white; the upper feathers with spiny shafts; the lower streaked with black; tail-coverts with white tips; the sides also with much white. _Male._ Length, 33.00; wing, 13.00; tail, 13.00. _Female._ Length, 21.50; wing, 10.75; tail, 7.50. _Chick._ Upper surface brownish-gray, lower grayish-white. Above irregularly and coarsely marbled with black, the markings most conspicuous on the head. Bill black.

HAB. _Artemisia_, or sage, plains of the Northwest.

HABITS. The Cock of the Plains appears to be confined to dry and sterile regions, from the Black Hills to California and Oregon, and from British Columbia nearly to Arizona, but only in those portions of the plains in which the _Artemisia_, or sage, abounds. It was met with by Townsend for the first time about fifty miles west of the Black Hills. He did not find them in the valley of the Snake River, but saw them again at Wallah-Wallah, on the banks of the Columbia, and near the mouth of the Lewis River. He only found it on the plains that produce the wormwood, on which plant it feeds, and in consequence of which the flesh becomes so bitter that it is unfit for food. It was very unsuspicious and easily approached, rarely flying unless hard pressed, and running ahead at the distance of a few feet, clucking like the common Hen. When disturbed, it would often run under the horse’s feet. According to his account it rises very clumsily, but, when once started, flies with great rapidity and also to a great distance. It is said to have the sailing motion of the Pinnated Grouse. They are abundant in autumn on the branches of the Columbia, at which time they are regarded as good food by the natives, and are taken in great quantities in nets.

Mr. Nuttall met with this Grouse in considerable numbers on the north branch of the Platte. They were always on the ground in small flocks or pairs, by no means shy; but when too nearly approached, uttering a rather loud but short guttural cackle, and rising with a strong whirring sound. Their notes, at times, strongly resembled those of the common Hen. He never met with them in any forest, nor have they been taken near the coast of California.

_Centrocercus urophasianus._]

This species was first obtained by Lewis and Clark’s party in their expedition to the Rocky Mountains. It was afterwards met with by Douglas, who published in the Linnæan Transactions (XVI, p. 133) an account of its habits. He described its flight as slow, unsteady, and as affording but little amusement to the sportsman; being a succession of flutterings, rather than anything else. They rise hurriedly, giving two or three flaps of the wing, swinging from side to side in their movement, and gradually falling, making a whirring sound, at the same time uttering a cry of _cuck-cuck-cuck_, like the common Pheasant. They pair in March and April.

At the mating-season the male is said to select some small eminence on the banks of streams for the very singular performances it goes through with at that period in the presence of its mate. The wings are lowered and dragged on the ground, making a buzzing sound; the tail, somewhat erect, is spread like a fan; the bare and yellow œsophagus is inflated to a prodigious size, and said to become nearly half as large as its body, while the silky flexile feathers on the neck are erected. Assuming this grotesque form, the bird proceeds to display a singular variety of attitudes, at the same time chanting a love-song in a confused and grating, but not an offensively disagreeable tone, represented as resembling _hurr-hurr-hurr-r-r-r-hoo_, ending in a deep and hollow utterance.

Their nests were found, by Douglas, on the ground, under the shade of _Artemisia_, or when near streams, among _Phalaris arundinacea_, and were carefully constructed of dry grass and slender twigs. The eggs are said to be as many as from thirteen to seventeen in number, and the period of incubation to be twenty-one or twenty-two days. The young leave the nest soon after they are hatched.

In the winter these birds are said to be found in large flocks of several hundreds, in the spring in pairs, and later in the summer and fall in small family groups. They were abundant throughout the barren amid plains of the Columbia and in Northern California, but were not met with east of the Rocky Mountains.

Dr. Newberry regards this Grouse, when in full plumage, as rather a handsome bird, and much better looking than any figure he has seen of it. It is much the largest of American Grouse, weighing from five to six pounds. The female is much smaller than the male, and is of a uniform sober-brown color. The male bird has a distinctive character in the spaces of bare orange-colored skin which occupy the sides of the neck, and are usually concealed by the feathers, but may be inflated to a great size. The species was not found in the valleys of California, but belongs both to the fauna of the interior basin and to that of the Rocky Mountains, the dry desert country lying on both flanks of this chain. He first found it high up on Pit River, and once came suddenly upon a male in an oasis near a warm spring, which started up with a great flutter and rush, and, uttering a hoarse _hek-hek_, flew off with an irregular but remarkably well-sustained flight, which was continued until the bird was out of sight. In searching around he soon found its mate, which rose from under a sage-bush with a noise like a whirlwind. This specimen was secured, and these birds were afterwards found to be quite abundant, but very strong-winged and difficult to kill. It was no uncommon thing, Dr. Kennerly states, for him to pour a full charge of shot into them at a short distance, dislodging a quantity of feathers, and yet to have them fly off to so great a distance before they dropped that he could not follow them. He found them only in the vicinity of the sage-bushes, under which they were usually concealed. He afterwards saw them very abundant on the shores of Wright and Rhett Lakes. In one instance he observed a male bird to sink down on the ground, as the train approached, depressing its head, and lying as motionless as a stick, which it greatly resembled. As he moved towards it, the bird lowered its head until it rested on the ground, and made itself as small as possible, and did not rise until he had arrived within fifteen feet of it. West of the Cascade Range it did not occur, and all its preferences and habits seemed to fit it for the occupancy of the sterile region of the central desert. Its flesh is dark and highly flavored with the wormwood. The young, if parboiled and stewed, are said to be quite good; but, on the whole, this Grouse is inferior for the table to any other American species.

Dr. Cooper gives this bird as common in Washington Territory, on the high barren hills and deserts east of the Cascade Mountains, and limited in its range by the growth of the _Artemisia tridentata_, the leaves of which shrub seem to be the principal part of its food; the flesh tasting so strongly of it as to be unpalatable. He saw none north of the Spokane Plains, the country being apparently too woody. On those plains they were very common. He describes its flight as more heavy and less noisy than that of most Grouse, and when they are started, it commonly extends a long distance before alighting.

Dr. Suckley found the Sage-Cock abundant on the plains of Oregon, near Snake River, on both sides of the Blue Mountains, as also along the line of the Columbia, on the open plains, and on the sage barrens of the Yakima and Simcoe Valleys,—in fact, wherever the artemisia was found. The leaves of this shrub either are preferred or are necessary to its existence, for no other food was found in their full stomachs, even in localities where abundance of grass-seed, wild grain, grasshoppers, and other kinds of food, might be found. This species has apparently the power of going a long while without water. Lieutenant Fleming informed Dr. Suckley that he found them about twelve miles west of Fort Laramie, but they were not seen east of that point so far south. In August, 1853, one was procured about two hundred miles east of the Rocky Mountains. He also observed a small flock on the plains bordering on Milk River, in Nebraska. Near Soda Lake, the sink of the Mohave River, Dr. Cooper met with it, which is without doubt the most southern point at which it has been discovered. Dr. Coues has never met with it in Arizona.

Mr. Ridgway encountered it everywhere in the Great Basin where there was a thrifty growth of the artemisia, which appears everywhere to regulate its existence. He corroborates the accounts given of its heavy, lumbering flight; and when it has once escaped, it flies so far that the sportsman rarely has a second opportunity to flush it. It rises apparently with great effort. He was told by the settlers of Nevada and Utah that the Sage-Hen was never known to touch grain of any kind, even when found in the vicinity of grain-fields. This is attributed to a very curious anatomical peculiarity of the species,—the entire absence of a gizzard; having instead a soft membranous stomach, rendering it impossible to digest any hard food. In a large number of specimens dissected, nothing was found but grasshoppers and leaves of the artemisia.

Two eggs in my cabinet, from Utah, measure, one 2.20 by 1.50 inches, and the other 2.15 by 1.45. They are of an elongate-oval shape, slightly pointed at one end. Their ground-color varies from a light-greenish drab to a drab shaded with buff. They are thickly freckled with small rounded spots of reddish-brown and dark chestnut.

GENUS PEDIŒCETES, BAIRD.

_Pediœcetes_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 625. (Type, _Tetrao
phasianellus_, LINN.)

_Pediœcetes phasianellus._]