152 Birds of Colorado 



Distribution. — Western America, from British Columbia to northern 

 California, and east to western Colorado, 



Cary identifies a Grouse taken by him in August, 1906, near Hahn's 

 Peak in northern Routt co., with this subsj^ecies, and concludes that all 

 the Sharp-tailed Grouse of western and sotithern Colorado should be 

 referred to this form. He noticed the Sharp-tailed Grouse also in San 

 Miguel, Dolores, Montezuma and Archuelta counties up to an eleva- 

 tion of 9,500 feet, and concluded that they were this subspecies. 



Prairie Sharp-tailed Grouse. 

 Pedioccetes phasianellus campestris. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 308b— Colorado Records— Allen 72, p. 152 ; 

 Aiken 72, p. 208 ; Morrison 87, p. 58 ; 88, p. 139 ; 89, p. 182 ; Ridgway 

 87, p. 192 ; Osburn 93, p. 212 ; Cooke 97, pp. 71, 159, 203 ; Gihnan 

 07, p. 153 ; Rockwell 08, p. 161 ; Warren 09, p. 14 ; Henderson 09, 

 p. 228. (Some of these may refer to the other subspecies.) 



Description. — Above tawny, mottled with black, white and reddish 

 markings, rather fine except on the scapulars, the white chiefly on the 

 wing-coverts ; primaries and their coverts plain brown with white spots, 

 chiefly on the outer web ; throat buffy, rest of the under-parts white ; 

 fore-neck and breast with niunerous brown U-shaped spots, extending 

 over the flanks to the lesser extent ; four middle tail-feathers like the 

 back, mottled tawny and rtifous, others chiefly white ; iris brown, 

 bill and feet horny-brown. Length 18 ; wing 8-75 ; tail 3-0, to end 

 of longest tail-feather 4-0 ; culmen -6 ; tarsus 1-75. 



The female is smaller — wing about 8>0. A young bird is rather lighter 

 and has white shaft-markings above. 



Distribution. — The prairie region of middle America from Manitoba 

 to Texas and New Mexico, east to Winconsin, west to Colorado ; pro- 

 bably a resident throughout. 



In Colorado this bird is by no means common. It was apparently 

 more so in former days, but it is a species which prefers wild country 

 and retreats before settlement, and it is now but seldom met with. 

 It was chiefly an inhabitant of the prairie country east of the mountains, 

 and was abundant formerly about Loveland (Osburn). It is occasion- 

 ally met with in the wilder parts of Routt co. There is an example 

 in the collection at the Capitol in Denver from Wray, presented October 

 19th, 1903, by B, E. Sisson ; Aiken observed ono near Limon in May, 

 1899, and Carter found it breeding in Middle Park at 7,500 feet. 



In south-west Colorado near Fort Lewis both Oilman and Morrison 

 state that it is fairly common among the scrub-oaks on the mesas at 

 about 7,500 feet, but whether it is the present subspecies or P. p. 

 colunibianus, the characteristic form of the Great Basin region, is at 



