SHARP-TAILED GROUS. 669 



verse wavy crescents. The ground color of all the feathers is black. 

 Upper tail-coverts black-brown, mottled on their margins with grey- 

 ish rusty, and broadly tipped with whitish-grey. Breast deep black, 

 the feathers broadly terminated with white. Under tail-coverts deep 

 black, pure white for half an inch at their tips. Under wing-coverts 

 and axillary feathers brownish dusky, some of the largest having 

 white shafts and terminal spots. Primaries dusky, and without 

 white spots. Tail 6 inches long, almost entirely black, usuallyjwith a 

 broad rufous tip, which is sometimes probably worn off, though feath- 

 ers of this kind, with the rufous termination, have been found by Mr. 

 Oaks, in summer, on the summit of the White Mountains. — The 

 /ewiaZe is more than an inch shorter; and the general plumage is 

 much more varied, with less black, and more of the ferruginous. 



SHARP-TAILED GROUS. 



(Tetrao phasianelhts, Lin. Bonap. Am. Orn. iii. pi. 19. Phil. Museum.) 



Sp. Charact. — Mottled; tail short, cuneiform, of 18 narrow, square 

 feathers, the middle ones much the longest, the outer white at 

 the point. — Female similar to the male. Winter plumage, dark- 

 er and more glossy. 



This curious species of Grous is also principally an 

 inhabitant of the coldest habitable parts of the American 

 continent, being found around Hudson's Bay in the larch 

 thickets throughout the whole year. It is not uncommon 

 in the forests of the Rocky Mountains, is also met with 

 abundantly on the plains of Oregon, and Mr. Say saw it 

 in the spring likewise in Missouri, but little beyond the 

 settlements, at which season it also visits the vicinity of 

 Fort William, on Lake Superior. It is, as usual, shy and 

 solitary, living only in pairs throughout the summer, 

 when they subsist much upon berries. In autumn and 

 winter they are seen moving in families, and frequent 

 the thickets of juniper and larch, on whose buds, as 

 well as those of the birch, alder, and poplar, they now 

 principally live. They usually keep on the ground, but 

 if disturbed take to trees. When hard pressed by the 



