104 BULLETIN 16 2, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



showing the distribution of the seven forms and a study of the 

 plumage changes. 



Major Bendire (1892), who had a wide experience with this species, 

 writes : 



The favorite locations to look for the Sooty Grouse during the spring and 

 summer are the sunny, upper parts of the foothills, bordering on the heavier 

 timbered portions of the mountains, among the scattered pines and the various 

 berry-bearing bushes found in such situations, and along the sides of canons. 

 According to my observations these birds are scarcely ever found any distance 

 within the really heavy timber. In the middle of the day they can usually be 

 looked for with success amongst the deciduous trees and shrubbery found along 

 the mountain streams in canons, especially if there is an occasional pine or 

 fir tree mixed amongst the former. 



In the vicinity of Seattle, Wash., in 1911, we found sooty grouse 

 still quite common almost within the city limits. Where much of 

 the virgin forest had been cut off, where some of the land had been 

 cultivated, and where scattered houses were being built, the grouse 

 still clung to the remnants of the coniferous forests and the brushy 

 clearings near them. W. Leon Dawson (1909) has expressed it very 

 well, as follows : 



Indeed, the Blue Grouse and the Douglas fir are nearly inseparable. In the 

 sheltering branches of this tree the bird takes refuge in time of danger ; from 

 its commanding elevation he most frequently sends forth the challenges of 

 springtime; and in its somber depths he hides himself thruout the winter season. 

 So great is this devotion on the part of the bird that it is found indifferently 

 at sea level or at the timber line of the highest mountains ; and it will not 

 willingly quit a favorite piece of woodland even tho the supporting forests be 

 cut away on every side. 



Keferring to its summer haunts on Mount Rainier, Wash., R. A. 

 Johnson (1929) says: 



The summer range of this species is restricted to the alpine meadow zone, a 

 habitat extending around the mountain approximately between the elevations 

 of 5,000 and 6,500 feet. The ground cover of this habitat consists largely of 

 heather meadows, small mountain ash, and mountain willow thickets inter- 

 spersed with clumps and individual trees of alpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) and 

 mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) , the branches of which usually droop 

 so that the lowest ones touch the ground. 



Courtship. — Early in March the grouse begin to migrate downward 

 from their winter resorts in the heavily forested mountains to their 

 summer homes in the more open foothills and valleys. From that 

 time until the last of May their haunts resound with the loud, deep- 

 toned hootings of the male, his challenge to his rivals, or his courtship 

 love notes. I once had a good opportunity to watch a fine old cock 

 grouse hooting and displaying under very favorable circumstances. 

 It was on Mercer Island in Lake Washington, within the city limits 



