CHAPTER XVI 



THE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE IN WINTER 



WHEN bitter Winter swoops down from 

 the northward to lay siege to all the 

 denizens of the woods and fields that 

 do not take a hint from the autunrn and slip 

 away to the south, there are few of the wild folks 

 better prepared for him than are the sharp-tailed 

 grouse. Hardy this bird must needs be; for his 

 range — the Northwestern States, and the West- 

 ern Provinces of Canada — is a land of long, cold 

 winters and far-famed for its snow and blizzards. 

 Of the several varieties inhabiting this wide 

 range, none are really migratory, and unlike the 

 pinnated grouse, they spend the year around 

 pretty much on the same grounds. True, in the 

 strictest sense, the sharp-tail is also slightly mi- 

 gratory, in so far as he usually leaves his more 

 open summer haunts to seek the shelter of the 

 nearest scrubby woods, but as a rule he does not 

 move any great distance. 



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