112 BULLETIN 162, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



It was not greatly distended or conspicuous, being partially concealed by the 

 feathers. With his effort of giving voice to his feelings, the bird's whole form 

 pulsated with each note, the half-spread tail vibrating vertically. After the 

 concluding note, he would raise his head, close the neck pocket and calmly look 

 about. He repeated this numerous times for six or seven minutes. Occasionally 

 a whiff of smoke from the camp-fire would sweep past, and this would take his 

 Instant attention but caused no serious alarm. 



Fall. — Writing of conditions on Vancouver Island, where the 

 migratory habits of the sooty grouse are evidently the same as else- 

 where, Swarth (1912) says: 



The species is locally migratory, descending into the valleys during breed- 

 ing season, and retreating into the higher mountains at the end of the summer. 

 The old males go first, beginning to leave about the time the females are bring- 

 ing their young from the nest. At Beaver Creek a few still lingered through 

 June and could occasionally be heard hooting. In the mountains south of 

 Alberni, in July, no old males were seen at the bottoms of the basins, or in the 

 canons, where females with young were frequently met with, but on the higher 

 slopes and the summits of the surrounding ridges they were quite abundant. 

 At the top of Mount Douglas (altitude about 4,200 feet) several were heard 

 hooting July 14 to 16. 



At Errington, early in September, sooty grouse were abundant and gathered 

 in flocks, usually of from six to ten individuals, though as many as fifteen were 

 seen in one gathering. At this time there were no males in the lowlands, 

 these flocks being in all probability composed usually each of a female with her 

 brood; but a trip to the summit of Mount Arrowsmith, September 6 to 8, 

 disclosed the presence of the cock birds in numbers everywhere on the higher 

 slopes of the mountains. About the second week in September the others began 

 to follow, and they soon became quite scarce in the lowlands. By the end of 

 the month but very few remained. 



Game. — The " blue grouse," or " gray grouse," or " mountain 

 grouse," as it is variously called, has been the finest game bird of the 

 northwest coast region; but it is becoming very scarce near the 

 centers of population. It is a fine, large, heavy bird, weighing 3 

 or 4 pounds. When the bird is feeding on berries in summer or fall, 

 its flesh has a delicious flavor and it is often very fat ; but in winter, 

 when it feeds almost exclusively on coniferous browse, it has a 

 resinous flavor which is not so good. It lies well to a dog and, when 

 flushed in open clearings or in the mountain pastures or berry 

 patches, it flies away with a straight, steady flight, making very pretty 

 shooting. In the heavily timbered mountains it is not so easj' a 

 mark, as it glides silently out of the top of some tall fir tree and goes 

 scaling downhill at a swift pace. It is a difficult mark too, as it 

 flies aw T ay among the maze of tree trunks in a heavy stand of Douglas 

 fir, where many a charge of shot finds a tree trunk instead of the 

 bird. 



Winter. — Keversing the habit of most other birds, the "blue 

 grouse " spends the summer in the lowlands and retires to the higher 



