210 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



North American blue-grouse have been placed apart under the term Dendragapus, 

 containing the dusky, blue, or pine-grouse, I), obscurus, of the eastern foot-hills of the 

 Rocky Mountains, south into Mexico, and its barely separable ally, Richardson's 

 grouse, I), richardsoni, of the central Rocky Mountains from South Pass north to 

 Hudson Bay Territory, with its jet black, square tail, differing in this point from the 

 rounded black tail, with its terminal gray bar, of D. obscurus. A third variety is 

 D. fuliginosits from Oregon to Sitka. These birds inhabit exclusively the evergreen 

 forests at elevations of about 6,000 feet, but in winter, in the Sierra Nevada, they 

 descend to 2,000 feet. In the spring the males emit a prolonged sound, like the whir 

 of a rattan cane, caused by the inflation and contraction of two sacs, one on each side 

 of the throat, covered by an orange-colored skin, but which are usually concealed, when 

 collapsed, by the feathers. They are large birds, and their flesh is white and delicate. 



The genus Canace has three species, the spruce-grouse, distributed throughout the 

 eastern United States to the Rocky Mountains, and northward to the Arctic regions ; 

 Franklin's grouse, abundant in the Rocky, Bitter Root, and Cascade Mountains, 

 Washington Territory; and Hartlaub's grouse, C. (Falcipennis) hartlaubi, from 

 Siberia, differing from the others, beside the coloring of its plumage, by having the 

 primaries falcate or sickle-shape. They are forest and swamp-loving birds, very tame 

 and unsuspicious, and their flesh is dark and generally bitter. The black-cock, T. tetrix 

 (sometimes placed in the genus Lyrurus), has a glossy black plumage with blue 

 reflections, and the under tail-coverts pure white. It is abundant in Great Britain and 

 on the continent of Europe, extending eastward as far as China. In the mountains of 

 the Caucasus a second species is found, T. mlokosieiviczi, differing from the black-cock 

 by its black under tail-coverts, and by having the tail bent downward and slightly 

 outward at the tip, the feathers trough-shaped at the ends. The black-cock is accus- 

 tomed, during the breeding season, to come together in large companies, called in 

 Sweden the 'orrlek' or 'lek.' The locality is an open place surrounded by forest 

 trees, where the males appear before dawn and begin to strut not unlike a turkey-cock. 

 When two or more meet during the performance, a desperate conflict ensues, not 

 unfrequently ending in a regular rough-and-tumble fight. Unlike the capercaili, the 

 black-cock, while ' drumming,' is wide-awake to all that is going on about him, except 

 when engaged in battle. After the males have been occupied with their manoeuvres 

 for a short period, frequently uttering their call-notes, the females appear upon the 

 scene, and the pairing takes place. The female, or gray-hen as she is called, deposits 

 her eggs, eight or nine in number, under some bushes or in the heather, and the chicks, 

 Avhen first hatched, are fed on ants' eggs or insects. Unlike the cock-of-the-woods, 

 although the species under consideration frequents the forests, it prefers the moors 

 and plains, and is very shy and difficult of approach. 



The magnificent capercaili, T. urogallus, with its relative, the Siberian wood- 

 grouse, T. urogalloides, are the chief species of the genus Tetrao, and are the largest 

 of all known grouse. The first named is still met with in Scotland, having been 

 introduced into that country after having become extinct, and is found throughout 

 northern Europe, and in Asia, but is replaced in eastern Siberia by the smaller species, 

 T. urogalloides. All of these birds are denizens of the forests, delighting in the thick 

 pines and firs, upon the leaves of which the capercaili feeds. Space forbids a detailed 

 account of the habits of this noble bird, and will permit of but a brief notice of the 

 manner in which the male is accustomed to call the hens into his presence. The 

 species is polygamous, and the breeding season commences towards the end of March, 



