DUSKY GROUSE. 41 



THE DUSKY GROUSE. 



( Dendnujap ii.s obscurus. ) « 



The dusky, or blue, grouse lives mainly in coniferous forests of the 

 western mountain ranges, occurring in the Rocky Mountains from 

 New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, north to Canada and Alaska, 

 and west to the Pacific coast. These grouse are large, plainly colored 

 birds, mainly of a slaty or dusky shade. In unfrequented forests 

 they are so unsophisticated that they often perch on a low branch and 

 gaze curiously at an intruder until struck by a stone or stick. From 

 their unsuspicious nature they are known in parts of the West, like 

 the previous species, as fool-hens. Wliile commonly habitants of the 

 higher forests, they often descend to lower levels on the mountain 

 sides where deciduous trees and bushes mingle with the conifers. 



The dusky grouse is a valuable food bird and weighs from 2^ to 

 ^ pounds. Wilbur C. Knight says : ^ 



Of all the edible birds of the west this and the followiiis variety [Richard- 

 son's grouse] are the most desirable. The flesh is highly flavored, tender, juicy, 

 and as white as that of a tan)e fowl. 



The flavor of a game bird's flesh is often affected by the character 

 of its diet, as is the case with the blue grouse after it has been feeding 

 on the pitchy foliage of conifers. " The use of such food imparts to 

 the flesh of these birds," says Major Bendire, " a strong resinous 

 flavor, not particularly relished by me at first." " Baird, Brewer, and 

 Ridgway, however, state that the pine taste only improves the bird's 

 gamy flavor.'^ Vernon Bailey states that half -grown young of the 

 blue grouse which had been feeding largely on gooseberries were 

 excellent eating, being entirely free from pitchiness. George B. 

 Grinnell, editor of Forest and Stream, notes that a diet of a small 

 species of red whortleberry also makes the flesh delicious. '^ 



As an object of sport the blue grouse is in the front rank of game 

 birds, even though it spends much time in the deep coniferous for- 

 ests. It lies well to the dog, flies swiftly, and affords shots in heavy 

 timber that test the sportsman's highest skill. 



oin addition to the common dusky grouse (Dendraf/aptis ohscurus) of the 

 Rocky Mountains from New Mexico to Montana, three other geographic forms 

 are known. These are the sooty grouse (Z>. o. fKlif/iiioKioi) of the northwest 

 coast, from California to southern Alaska; Richardson grouse (D. o. lichard- 

 soni), from Montana to northwestern British America; and the Sierra dusky 

 grouse (/>. <>. fiicrra) of the Sierra Nevada in California and east slope of Cas- 

 cade Mountains in Oregon. 



i Birds of Wyoming, p. .^)4, 1002. 



'^ Auk, vol. (), p. .".a. ISSO. 



d Hist. N. A. Birds, vol. :'., i»i). 424rA2^, 1874. 



e Forest and Stream, vol. 12, p. 3G5, 1879. 



