PEAIEIE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE 293 



same time the head is carried so low as almost to touch the ground, so that the 

 bird is transformed in appearance and, as observed through binoculars at some 

 distance, looks to be running backwards. He then returns at full speed, when 

 another cock comes forward toward him, both advancing slowly, with vibrating 

 tails, to meet finally and stand drumming their quills in a trance with tightly 

 closed eyes. After perhaps a minute one bird peeps at the other, and seeing 

 him still enraptured, resumes an upright graceful carriage, anon stealing 

 gently away. His companion is thus left foolishly posing at nothing, but 

 presently he too awakes, and departs from the arena in a normal manner. 

 Meanwhile the remaining cocks, one after another, take up the running till 

 all have participated, but the end of each figure seems to be the same. Two 

 birds squat flat on the ground with their beaks almost touching for about twenty 

 minutes, and when they do this they are out of the dances for that day. The 

 dance appears to terminate by some bird, either a late starter or one more 

 vigorous than the rest, being unable to find a partner to respond to his run. 

 Having assured himself of this, he utters a disgusted clucking, and all the 

 grouse fly away at intervals as they complete their term of squatting. 



Nesting. — The sharp-tailed grouse is not very particular as to a 

 nesting site and is not much of a nest builder. The nest is a hollow 

 in the ground, scantily lined with whatever loose material is avail- 

 able. It is usually partially concealed under a thick tuft of tall 

 grass on the prairie or under bushes or thick herbage in a bushy 

 tract or near a stream. We found these grouse very common around 

 Crane Lake in 1905. On one day, June 5, we discovered three nests 

 on the bushy prairies near Bear Creek. One of the nests that I 

 photographed was under a little rosebush; the hollow was 7 inches 

 across and 2y 2 inches deep ; it was lined with fine twigs, straws, and 

 feathers. Another similar nest was under a " grease bush," or 

 " silver willow." A nest found June 2, 1913, near Lake Winnipeg- 

 osis, Manitoba, was a hollow in the ground 8 inches across and 4 

 inches deep ; it was concealed in long grass on a grassy and bushy 

 dry place on a low, wet prairie near the lake. We found that the 

 birds were usually close sitters, flushing almost underfoot. In one 

 case, where we wanted to photograph the bird on a previously 

 located nest, we had difficulty in finding it again, although we had 

 marked the spot with a tuft of cotton. After scanning the ground 

 very carefully, foot by foot, for a long time, w r e finally discovered 

 the bird sitting on her nest within less than 10 feet. She shows up 

 plainly enough in the photograph, but in life her color pattern 

 matched her surroundings so w T ell that she was nearly invisible, 

 though in plain sight. 



Dr. Alfred O. Gross has sent me his notes on five nests found by him 

 in Wood County, Wis., June 1 to 4, 1930. Following are his notes on 

 three of them, containing 13, 11, and 12 eggs, respectively : 



Nest built among the grass and moss of a rounded knoll about 4 feet in 

 diameter, located in a wet, swampy region remote from any farmed land. 

 Growing throughout the swamp were small willows, poplars, and swamp grass. 



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