LAND BIRDS. 235 



clearing on a small rock ridge near Benson Brook. Mr. Kneutson, of Park 

 Place, reported July 20, that the Grouse nested regularly at his clearing 

 and that several broods of young had recently been seen there. He also 

 said that during the previous fall he had found them very plentiful and tame 

 at the clearing at McCargoe Cove. The Malone boys at Menagerie Light 

 House reported these birds to be quite common breeders at the clearing 

 when the old town stood near the head of Siskowit Bay (Max M. Peet, 

 Adams' Rep. Mich. Geol. Surv. 1908, p. 347). 



It is worthy of remark that both A. B. Covert and Dr. Morris Gibbs 

 long ago stated their belief that this species occurred, at least as a winter 

 visitor, in parts of the Upper Peninsula. Dr. Gibbs has the following 

 statement in his notes written many years ago: "The Rev. E. H. Day, 

 pastor of the M. E. church at Cadillac, informs Mr. A. B. Covert and me that 

 this species is not rare in the Northern Peninsula. He lived on the meat 

 of this bird some time while an Indian missionary a good many years ago 

 [probably on Keweenaw Point]." In Forest and Stream (Vol. VIII, 241) 

 G. A. Stockwell says, alluding to this species, "An occasional visitor to 

 Lower Michigan; more frequent in the Upper Peninsula; variety colum- 

 bianus is confined to the eastern shore of Lake Michigan and is extremely 

 rare." The latter part of Stockwell's statement remains unexplained. 

 So far as can be learned no specimen of the Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse 

 has ever been taken in any part of Michigan. It is possible that the ordinary 

 prairie form of the Sharp-tail (P. phas. campestris) may have occurred 

 at one time over a part of the Lower Peninsula, but that, as this bird, unlike 

 the Prairie Chicken, retires rapidly before civilization, it has now become 

 extinct. McUwraith (Birds of Ontario, 1894, 180) says: "The Sharp- 

 tail is abundant near Winnipeg, from which point it has reached the 

 Hamilton market. It is also reported by Mr. Bampton as being found at 

 Sault Ste. Marie (Canada)." Doubtless reference is made here to the 

 northern form, the same found on Isle Royale. 



In habits the Sharp-tail is not very unlike the Prairie Chicken, but it is 

 less often found in entirely open ground, preferring the edges of the forest 

 and particularly the brush slopes of an uneven country. The nest is placed 

 on the ground; the eggs, six to twelve, "varying from olive-buffy to deep 

 brown, often plain, but usually more or less speckled with dark brown, 

 and averaging 1.70 by 1.23 inches" (Ridgway). 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Tarsus featliered to base of toes; tail of eighteen feathers, tlie middle pair in tlie male 

 projectinji an inch or more beyond the rest; no elongated feather tufts on sides of neck. 

 General distribution of colors much as in the Prairie Chicken, inckKling the Hglit huffy 

 chin, throat and cheeks, with the dark stripe beneath the eye and the blackisli patch 

 below the cheek; under parts, however, whitish or very pale buffy, with numerous v-shaped 

 dusky spots on breast, sides and flanks, but no distinct bars except on a narrow belt at 

 base of neck, and sometimes on the flanks; lower breast and belly mostly pure white and 

 unspotted; upper parts mottled black, buff and white, the wing-coverts with ninnerous 

 large round or oval white spots, and the scapulars usually with sharp white shaft-streaks; 

 tail-feathers mostly whitish, only the two middle pairs mottled and barreil with black, 

 rusty and white. Female similar, but smaller, the middle tail-featiiers much shorter. 



The above description will answer equally well for the typical Siiarp-tailed Grouse 

 (P. p. phasinnellus) of the interior of British America, and the Prairie Sharp-tail (P. p. 

 campestris) of the plains of the United States. The latter, according to Ridg^vay, is 

 light-colored, " the general tone of the upper parts buffy, and grayish or light brownish 

 of various shades always predominating over black markings, the white markings on 

 scapulars and wings not conspicuously contrasted with the general color." On the other 

 hand, the northern form P. p. phasiancUns, "is very dark colored, with black or dusky 

 largely predominating on upper parts, the white scapular streaks and wing spots showing 

 in strong relief." 



