TETRAO OBSCURUS, DUSKY GROUSE. 399 



bird inhabits the evergreen forests exclusively, and is found not un- 

 commonly in tbe Sierra Nevada of California, and in the wooded dis- 

 tricts of the country lying between the Sacramento Valley and the 

 Columbia. In the Cascade Mountains we found it associated with the 

 Rufled Grouse, which it resembles in habit more than any other spe- 

 cies. When on the ground they lie very close, flying up from your feet 

 as you approach them, and when flushed always take to a tree; while 

 sitting on a tree, you may fire as many times as is necessary to hit the 

 bird before you can dislodge it. In the spring the male, seated motion- 

 less on a branch of i)ine or fir where it issues from the trunk, makes a 

 boomiug call, which, by a remarkable ventriloquial power, serves rather 

 to mislead than direct the sportsman, and, unless ex[)erienced in shoot- 

 ing this kind of Grouse, he will be likely to spend much time, with 

 nothing to show for it, in a vain search for the bird." 



The habits of this species in Colorado may be elucidated by an extract 

 from Mr. Trippe's manuscripts : 



"The 'Gray Grouse,' as this species is universally called, is a rather 

 common bird throughout the mountains, from the foot-hills up to timber- 

 line, and, during summer, wanders at times above the woods as high as 

 the summit of the range. Excepting for a brief period in August and 

 September, it rarely approaches the vicinity of clearings, frequenting 

 the dense pine forests, and showing a preference for the tops of rocky 

 and inaccessible mountains. In its nature, in short, it is the exact 

 counterpart of the Euffed Grouse, having the same roving, restless dis- 

 l)Osition; living upon the same diet of buds and berries; frequenting 

 the same rugged, craggy mountain haunts; and, like that bird, is more 

 or less solitary in its habits, and constantly moving from place to place 

 on foot. Its food consists principally of the leaves and berries of vari- 

 ous species oH UricacecCj which abound in all its haunts. It is also very 

 fond of grasshoppers and all kinds of insects, and, while the snow lies 

 deei) upon the ground, lives for the most part ui)on the buds and tender 

 leaves of the pines. When the grain is cut in the valleys, the Grouse 

 are frequently to be found, in the stubble-fields and adjacent coverts, in 

 small flocks of from three or four up to eight or ten. They are tben so 

 tame as to be easily approached and killed, but later in the season be- 

 come somewhat wilder, though never very shy. They never gather in 

 large flocks, like the Tinnated and Sharp-tailed Grouse, more than a 

 single family being rarely found together. The broods separate as soon 

 as they are well grown, and, from the middle or close of autumn until 

 the succeeding ])airing season, the Gray (irousci is usually found alone. 

 On being suddenly startled, tliis bird takes wing with great rapidity, 

 sometimes utteiing a loud cackling note, very much like that of the 

 Prairie Hen on similar occasions, fre(juently alighting on the lower limb 

 of a tree after flying a little way, and watching the intruder with out- 

 stretched neck. Sometimes they will fly ui> to the top of a tall i)ine 

 and renuiin hidden in the thick toliage for a long tin)e; nor will they 

 move or betray their i»osition, although sticks and stones are thrown 

 into the tree, or even a shot fired. Late in summer many of them ascend 

 to the ui)i)er woods to feed upon the nuUtitudes of grasshoppers that 

 swarm thcr*^ in August and September, in the pursuit ol" which they 

 wander abo\e timber-line, and may sometimes be met in great nund)ers 

 among the copses of willows aiul Juniper that lie above the forests. 



''Tlie flight of the Giay Grouse is rapid and powerful. Its llesh is 

 white and teiuler, reseml)ling that ot the Iv'ulVed Grouse. In all re- 

 spects it seems to fill the same place in the nuiuntaiu fauna of Colora»lo 

 that is occupied by the latter bird among the mountains of New Eu- 



