132 GROUSE, PARTRIDGES, QUAILS, ETC. 



KEY TO SPECIES OF PEDICECETES. 



1. Ground color biiffy grayish columbianus, p. 132. 



1. Ground color rusty or yellowish brown .... campestris, p, 132. 



308a. Pedioecetes phasianellus columbianus (Ord). Co- 

 lumbian Shakp-tailed Grouse. 



Adults. — Upper parts grayish brown, with black and bufiFy marking's ; 

 under parts butfy or clear whitish, white or huffy prevailing in feathers 

 with V-shaped markings. Young : similar to adult female but grayer, and 

 throat white. Length : 15-19, wing 8.50-9.00, tail 4.00-5.50. 



Distribution. — Breeds in northern part of Great Basin region, east to 

 Montana and Wyoming, and north from Utah, Nevada, and northeasteni 

 California to central portion of Alaska. 



Nest. — A hollow in the ground, lined with dried grass and feathers. 

 Eggs: 11 to 14, creamy buff to olive brown, usually lightly spotted with 

 reddish brown. 



Nowhere so abundant as the pinnated grouse, the sharp-tailed has 

 a wider range over more unsettled country and will probably last 

 longer, especially in the northern part of its range. While a prairie 

 or plains bird, it is usually flushed from a berry patch, low bushes 

 beside a creek, a stubble field, or sagebrush. Its finely mottled 

 plumage makes it very .inconspicuous, and its tendency is to lie low 

 and be flushed at fatally close quarters. 



Though the grouse usually keep well hidden in summer, in winter 

 when their plumage has become dense and their feet and legs rabbit- 

 like, they may be seen crossing the fields on top of the snow or get- 

 ting their breakfast of buds from the tops of trees and tall bushes. 

 When the weather is cold and the snow deep and soft they often 

 roost under the snow like the rufi'ed grouse, and come out in the 

 morning fifteen or twenty feet from where they entered the white 

 surface at night. 



In spring the males have a loud cackling note, besides a scraping 

 sound produced apparently by opening and closing their rigid tail 

 feathers. Vernon Bailey. 



308b. P. p. campestris Bidgiv. Prairie Sharp-tailed Grouse. 

 Similar to fo/H?«6?'arn/s, but ground color much lighter, prevailing shade 



rusty or yellowish brown ; under 

 parts mainly whitish, and dark 

 breast washed with whitish. 

 "^' Distribution. — Breeds on 

 plains and prairies in Transi- 

 tion and Upper Sonoran zones 

 from Manitoba south to New 



_^_ Mexico, and from Wisconsin 



pj 205 ^"^ Illinois west to the Rocky 



Mountains. 



Nest. — A slight hollow in the ground, arched over by grass. Eggs : 

 usually 14, bluish green with a purplish bloom when first laid, afterwards 

 changing to dark chocolate with a few dark spots, and fading to white. 



