PLATE LIX.
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.
Canace obscurus.
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.
? 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.
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.
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!
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.
2561 ♂ ⅓ ⅓
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.
Centrocercus urophasianus.
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.
Pediœcetes, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 625. (Type, Tetrao phasianellus, Linn.)
4543 ♂ ⅓ ⅓
Pediœcetes phasianellus.
Gen. Char. Tail short, graduated; exclusive of the much lengthened middle part, where are two feathers (perhaps tail-coverts) with parallel edges and truncated ends half the full rounded wing. Tarsi densely feathered to the toes and between their bases. Neck without peculiar feathers. Culmen between the nasal fossæ not half the total length.
P. phasianellus. Above variegated with transverse spots of yellowish-brown and black; wing-coverts with large, roundish white spots; outer webs of primaries with quadrate white spots. Beneath white anteriorly and along the sides, with V-shaped marks of brown or dusky. Sexes alike in color and size.
Above blackish-dusky, variegated transversely with yellowish-brown; scapulars with broad white medial longitudinal streaks of white. Markings below clear, uniform blackish-dusky. Toes entirely hidden by the long hair-like feathers of the tarsus. Head and neck with the ground-color white, the throat heavily spotted with dusky. Hab. British America to Arctic regions … var. phasianellus.
Above yellowish-brown, mixed with reddish, and variegated transversely with black; scapulars without white longitudinal spots. Markings beneath clear pale brown, with dusky borders. Toes entirely bare. Head and neck deep buff, the throat not spotted. Hab. Prairies and plains of northern U. S., from Wisconsin and Illinois to Oregon … var. columbianus.
PLATE LX.
Tetrao phasianellus, Linn. S. N. I, (ed. 10,) 1758, p. 160.—Forst. Phil. Trans. LXII, 1772, 394, 495.—Gmel.—Lath.—Bon. Comp. List.—Sabine.—Edwards.—Richardson. Centrocercus p. G. R. Gray, Cat. B. Brit. Mus.—Bon. Compt. Rend.—? Swains. F. B. A. (in part?). Pediœcetes p. (not of Baird, Birds N. Am.)—Elliot, P. A. N. S. Philad. 1862, 402–404.—Ib. Monog. Tetraoninæ, pl.—Murray, Edinb. Phil. J. 1859 (Trout Lake Station).—Dall & Bannister, Tr. Chicago Ac. I, 1869, 287.—Gray, Cat. Brit. Mus. V, 1867, 88. Tetrao urogallus, var. β, Linn. S. N. I, (ed. 12,) 273. Pediœcetes kennicotti, Suckley, P. A. N. S. Philad. 1861.
Pediœcetes phasianellus.
Sp. Char. Prevailing colors, clear dusky-black above, and pure white beneath; no buff about the head. Upper parts variegated with transverse, rather zigzag, spots of yellowish-brown; scapulars with broad, elliptical, longitudinal medial spots of pure white; wing-coverts with large rounded, and outer webs of primaries with smaller and more quadrate, spots of pure white. Breast thickly covered with broad V-shaped, and the sides with less numerous sagittate, marks of uniform clear slaty or dusky. Legs densely feathered, the long hair-like feathers reaching beyond the claws, and completely hiding the toes. Throat thickly spotted with dusky. No appreciable differences in plumage between the sexes. Male (31,616, Fort Resolution, Dec. 1862; J. Lockhart). Wing, 8.60; tail, 4.50, the two middle feathers one inch longer.
Hab. British America, from Hudson’s Bay Territory, south to northern shore of Lake Superior, and west to Alaska and British Columbia.
Habits. The Arctic form of the Sharp-tailed Grouse is found throughout the Arctic regions, from Alaska southward and eastward to an extent not fully ascertained. Mr. Dall states that this variety is not uncommon at Fort Yukon, where Mr. Lockhart found it breeding and obtained its eggs. It has also been seen some two hundred miles down the river, but it is said not to be found below the cañon known as the Ramparts. Captain Ketchum, in his adventurous winter trip from Nulato to Fort Yukon, is said to have killed several of these birds. Specimens are in the Smithsonian Museum from Moose Factory and elsewhere along the southern part of Hudson’s Bay, and it is said to be abundant about Nipigon Lake, north of Lake Superior.
Mr. Kennicott found the nest of this bird at Fort Yukon, at the foot of a clump of dwarf willows. It was in dry ground, and in a region in which these willows abounded and were quite thickly interspersed with other trees, especially small spruces, but no large growth. The nest is said to have been similar to that of Cupidonia cupido. Mr. Lockhart also found it breeding in the same region. The nests seen by him were likewise built on a rising ground under a few small willows.
Richardson assigns as the northern limit of this species the region of the Great Slave Lake, latitude 61°, and as its most southern point latitude 41°. It was found in abundance on the outskirts of the Saskatchewan plains and throughout the wooded districts of the fur countries, frequenting the open glades or low thickets on the borders of lakes, especially where the forests have been partially cleared; perching on trees in the winter, but keeping to the ground in the summer; and, at all seasons, met with in small flocks of from ten to sixteen. They are said, early in spring, to select some level place, where a covey meets every morning and runs round in a circle of about twenty feet in diameter, so that the grass is worn quite bare. If any one approaches this circle, the birds squat close to the ground; but if not alarmed by a too near approach, they soon stretch out their necks to survey the intruder, and resume their circular course, some running to the right and others to the left, meeting and crossing each other. These “partridge-dances” are said to last a month or more, or until the female begins to incubate. This Grouse rises from the ground with the usual whirring noise, and alights again at a distance of a few hundred yards, sometimes on the ground or on the branches of a tree. In winter they hide in the snow, and make their way with ease through the loose drifts, feeding on the buds of the willows, larches, aspens, etc. In summer and autumn their food is principally berries. They are said to lay about thirteen eggs early in June; the nest being on the ground, formed of grasses lined with feathers.
The eggs of this variety closely resemble those of the columbianus, but are generally of a decidedly darker ground. They average 1.75 inches in length by 1.28 in breadth. Their ground is a dark tawny-brown minutely dotted with darker spots of brown.
Tetrao phasianellus, (not of Linn.,) Ord, Guthr. Geog. (2d Amer. ed.) II, 317, 1815.—Nutt.—Aud.—Newb.—Bon. Syn. and Am. Orn.—Coop. & Suckl.—Max. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 435. Centrocercus p. Swains. F. B. A.—Bonap. Comp. Rend. Pediœcetes p. Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 626. Phasianus columbianus, Ord, Guthr. Geog. (2d. Am. ed.) II, 317, 1815. Pediœcetes columbianus, Elliot, P. A. N. S. Philad. 1862, 403.—Ib. Monog. Tetraoninæ.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 532. Tetrao urophasianellus, Dougl. Trans. Linn. Soc. XVI, 136, 1829.
Sp. Char. Prevailing colors yellowish-brown and white; ground-color of head and neck deep buff. Upper parts variegated with transverse spots of black, and more or less tinged with rusty; scapulars without longitudinal spots of white; wing-coverts and outer webs of primaries with large conspicuous spots of pure white, the former roundish, the latter more quadrate. Breast and sides with V-shaped markings of pale yellowish-brown, bordered with dusky. Throat immaculate, or only minutely speckled; feathers of tarsus short, the toes completely bare. No appreciable difference between the sexes. Male (22,011 Simiahmoo, Washington Territory; Dr. Kennerly). Wing, 8.00; tail, 4.40, two middle feathers one inch longer. Female (19,173, Rose Brier Creek; F. V. Hayden)! Wing, 8.80; tail, 4.00.
Hab. Plains and prairies of the United States, from Illinois and Wisconsin, west to Oregon, Nevada, etc.; south to Colorado, New Mexico, etc.
Habits. This species is the more southern of the two varieties of Sharp-tailed Grouse found in North America. Owing to the confusion which has existed until recently, in which both the northern and southern races have been considered as one, the geographical distribution of each may not be defined with complete exactness. The present form is found in Illinois and Wisconsin, and westward to Oregon and Washington Territory, and as far to the north as British Columbia and the southern portions of the Saskatchewan Valley.
Dr. Newberry found this Grouse associated with the Prairie Chicken on the prairies bordering on the Mississippi and the Missouri, and frequently confounded with that bird, though readily distinguishable by its lighter plumage, its speckled breast, and smaller size. It is always the least abundant of the two species, when found together. The range of this Grouse extends much farther westward; the cupido being limited to the valley of the Mississippi, while the former is found as far west as the valleys of California. North of San Francisco his party first found it on a prairie near Canoe Creek, fifty miles northeast of Fort Reading; subsequently, on a level grass-covered plain in the upper cañon of Pit River, these birds were met with in great abundance. They were also found about the Klamath Lakes and in the Des Chutes Basin, as far as the Dalles. The flesh was very much like that of the Prairie Chicken. This bird is said to lie close, and when flushed to fly off, uttering a constantly repeated kuck-kuck-kuck, moving with steadiness and considerable swiftness. It is, however, easily killed. The young birds are fat and tender, and as they fall on the grassy prairie scatter their feathers, as if torn to pieces.
According to Dr. Suckley, the Sharp-tailed Grouse entirely replaces the Pinnated Grouse in Washington Territory. He first noticed it near old Fort Union, at the mouth of the Yellowstone River. From that point to the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Washington Territory it was exceedingly abundant wherever there was open country and a sufficiency of food. In certain places they were in great numbers in the autumn, congregating in large flocks, especially in the vicinity of patches of wild rye, and more recently near settlements where there were wheat-stubbles. They resemble the Pinnated Grouse in habits. Where they are numerous, they may frequently be found, on cold mornings in the autumn or early winter, perched on fences or on leafless trees, sunning themselves in the early sunlight. At Fort Dalles a young bird, scarcely two days old, was found on the first of April. This early incubation seems to prove that they must have more than one brood in a season. The young Grouse was confided to the charge of a Hen with a brood of young chickens; but it refused to associate with them, and escaped, probably to perish of cold. Dr. Cooper adds that this Grouse is found in Washington Territory only in the low alluvial prairies of the streams emptying into the Columbia east of the Cascade Mountains, where it was found in flocks of several hundreds. They shun high grounds and forests entirely. The only cry he ever heard them utter was a cackle when suddenly started from the ground. Their wings make a loud whirring, as among others of this family.
Mr. J. K. Lord found this species abundantly distributed on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, ranging right and left of the 49th parallel. It was particularly numerous on the plains near the Kootanie River, round the Osoyoos Lakes, and in the valley of the Columbia. He did not meet with any on the western side of the Cascade Range. It is also found in the Red River settlements and in Northern Minnesota.
Mr. Elliot is quite in error in stating that this Grouse does not occur east of the Mississippi as it is found nearly throughout Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. I have seen a flock within thirty miles of Chicago, and have from time to time had their eggs from Dane County, Wisconsin.
Mr. Lord regards this Grouse as remarkable both for its field qualities—such as lying well to a dog, rising with a loud rattling whir, frequenting open grassy prairies, and flying as straight as an arrow—and for its excellence as a table dainty. For delicacy of flavor its flesh is unequalled. With the fur-traders this species is known as the Spotted Chicken, and is, furthermore, the Skis-kin of the Kootanie Indians. Its singular combination of colors—white, black, and brownish-yellow—makes it exactly resemble the ground on which it lives, and admirably harmonizes with the dead twigs and leaves of the artemisia, the dry and sandy soil, the brown of the withered bunch-grass, and the sombre-colored lichens of the rocks. It often requires a keen and practised eye to distinguish one of these birds from the ground on which it has fallen, even though the eye be kept on the spot where it was seen to fall. This similarity of colors with those of the prairie no doubt effectually conceals them from the hawks and owls.
Its favorite haunt is on open grassy plains in the morning, keeping concealed in the long thick grass, coming about midday to the stream to drink, and to dust itself in the sandy banks. It seldom goes into the timber, always remains close to the prairie, and never retires into the depth of the forests. It lays its eggs on the open prairie in a tuft of grass, or near the foot of a small hillock, nesting early in spring, and depositing from twelve to fourteen eggs. The nest is a mere hole scratched in the earth, with a few grass-stalks and root-fibres laid carelessly and loosely over the bottom. Mr. Lord describes the eggs as of a dark rusty-brown, with small splashes or speckles of darker brown thickly spattered over them.
After nesting-time they appear in broods about the middle of August, the young birds being about two thirds grown. At this time they frequent the margins of small streams where there is thin timber and underbrush. After the middle of September they begin to pack, two or three coveys getting together, and flock after flock joining until they accumulate into hundreds. On the first appearance of snow they begin to perch on the dead branches of a pine or on the tops of fences. Near Fort Colville, after snow fell, they assembled in vast numbers in the large wheat-stubbles. They became wary and shy, the snow rendering every moving thing so conspicuous that it was next to impossible for dogs to hunt them.
The food of this Grouse consists principally of berries in the summer months, such as the snowberry, the bearberry, the haws of the wild rose, and the whortleberry, grain, the larvæ of insects, grass-seeds, etc. In the winter they run over the snow with ease and celerity, dig holes in it, and burrow underneath in the manner of a Ptarmigan. During the two winters Mr. Lord spent at Colville, flocks of these birds congregated around the hayricks at their mule-camp. In a temperature often 30° and more below zero, and the snow several feet deep, they were strong, fat, and wild, and did not appear to suffer at all from the intense cold. Indeed, they are said to pair very early in the spring, long before the snow has gone off the ground, and their meeting is preceded by some very singular performances, which are called by the fur-traders chicken-dances, to several of which Mr. Lord was an eyewitness. Groups of these birds assemble for their dances either about sunrise or late in the afternoon, selecting for the purpose a high round-topped mound, which in the course of their evolutions becomes worn quite bare. At one of the dances witnessed by Mr. Lord there were about twenty birds present; the birds nearest him were head to head, like gamecocks in fighting attitude,—the neck-feathers ruffed up, the little sharp tail elevated straight on end, the wings dropped close to the ground, but keeping up a rapid vibration or continued drumming sound. They circled round and round each other in slow waltzing time, always maintaining the same attitude, but never striking at each other. Sometimes the pace increased, and one pursued the other until the latter faced about. Others jumped about two feet in the air until out of breath, and then strutted about in a peculiar manner; and others went marching about with tails and heads as high up as they could get them.
Captain Blakiston states that on the Saskatchewan this species was very generally distributed throughout the interior. He met with it just below the forks of the Saskatchewan, and traced it to the western base of the Rocky Mountains. He found it breeding at Fort Carlton. He regards these birds as of polygamous habits. In the fall they are found in families, in the semi-wooded country bordering on the prairies. They perch on trees, frequently at the very top, and their crops are found stuffed out with berries. These are chiefly the fruit of the bearberry, the ground juniper, the snowberry, the small prairie roses, the buffalo-berry, and several kinds of buds. They have also been known to feed on caterpillars and other insects baked and crisped by prairie fires. Captain Blakiston was also an eyewitness of one of the singular love-performances of these birds, known as dances. His account of it, which is very full, is almost exactly in correspondence with the account referred to as given by Mr. Lord.
Mr. Ridgway met with this Grouse at one locality only, encountering them late in September in the Upper Humboldt Valley. There it was found in considerable numbers in the rye-grass meadows on the foot-slopes of the Clover Mountains. They were startled from the ground, where they were hidden in the grass, and when surprised frequently took refuge in the willow-thickets along the streams near by. Their flesh was found to be most excellent.
The eggs of this species vary considerably in size, but average about 1.80 inches in length and 1.30 in breadth. They are oval in shape, slightly pointed at one end. Their ground varies from a light clay to a dark rusty-brown, generally plain, but frequently speckled minutely with fine dottings of a darker brown.
Cupidonia, Reichenbach, Av. Syst. Nat. 1850, p. xxix. (Type, Tetrao cupido, L.)