TETEAOXID.E — THE GROUSE. 439 



round each other in slow waltzing time, always maintaining the same atti- 

 tude, hut never striking at each other. Sometimes the pace increased, and 

 one pursued the other until the latter faced ahout. Otliers jumped ahout 

 two feet in tlie air until out of hreath, and then strutted ahout in a peculiar 

 manner ; and others \\ent marcliing about with tails and heads as high up 

 as they could get them. 



Captain Blakistou states that on the Saskatchewan this species was very 

 generally distriliuted 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 tlie 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 liearberry, the ground juniper, the snow- 

 lierry, 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 tires. Captain Blakiston was also an eyewitness 

 of one of the singular love-performances of tlie.se 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. Eidgway met with this Grouse at one locality only, encountering them 

 late in September in the Upper Humboldt Valley. There it was found in con- 

 siderable 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 Hesh 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 

 <if a darker brown. 



Genus CUPIDONIA, Reichendach. 



Cupidonia, Eeichenbach, Av. Syst. Nat. 1850, p. xxix. (Type, Tctrao cupido, L.) 



G-EN. CnAR. Tail of eighteen feathers, short, half the lengthened wings ; the feathers 

 stiffened and more or less graduated. Bare inflatable air-sac of the neck concealed by a 

 tuft of long, stiff lanceolate feathers ; an incon.spicuous crest on the vertex. Tarsi 

 feathered only to near the base, the lower joint scutellate. Culincn liotween the nasal 

 fossie scarcely one tliird the total length. 



This genus, as far as known, is entirely peculiar to North America, where 

 but one species, with two races, is known. 



