The Prairie Sharp-tailed Grouse {Pedioecetes 



phasianellus) 

 By I. N. Mitchell 



Length: 17^ inches to 20 inches. 



Range: Central Alaska and northwestern British Columbia east through 

 central Keewatin to central western Ungava, and south to Lake Superior and the 

 Parry Sound district, Ontario. 



The sharp-tailed grouse, including under this name its three forms, has an 

 extensive range in the far West, but formerly extended far enough eastward to 

 meet the range of the true prairie hen in Wisconsin and Illinois where, however, 

 it has been nearly if not quite exterminated. As a rule, it inhabited wilder and 

 rougher country than the prairie hen, and never was so abundant. The free 

 use of the shotgun in recent years has taught the sharp-tail some important 

 lessons, and its wariness, seconded by its powerful wings, are sufficient to insure 

 the perpetuity of the species in the Western States in which it lives, profiting by 

 the sad lesson of the prairie chicken and heath hen in the East, afford it the 

 needed protection. L'nless, however, its pursuit be carefully regulated, its race 

 will soon be run, and another name added to the lengthening list of extinct 

 American game birds. 



The true form of the sharp-tailed grouse is a more northerly species, inhab- 

 iting the west and central portions of Manitoba and Alberta. The sharp-tailed 

 grouse may be met with in the same sections occupied by our common prairie 

 chicken, but may be readily distinguished from it by the feathered legs and toes. 

 The Columbian sharp-tailed is fond of wild fruit, so that during the fall they 

 move from the prairie lands into the cranberry marshes to feed. 



Prairie sharp-tailed grouse are considerably lighter in color than the prairie 

 chicken, and the underparts are without the barred eiTect. In winter they hide 

 in the deep snow and tunnel beneath the crust to feed on the sprouts of willows, 

 larches and aspens. Like the ruffed grouse, it frequently roosts in trees, but 

 during the spring and summer months it remains on the ground. 



From seven to twelve eggs are laid late in May or early in June. Some sets 

 bear a close resemblance to those of the prairie chicken and are dark olive green. 

 Others are grayish drab sparingly covered with markings of pale brown. I 

 found this bird breeding in the rolling prairies of western Minnesota during the 

 first half of June. 



Eggs, ten to sixteen, very small for so large a bird. 



Food, insects, especially grasshoppers, hips of the wild rose, stony seeds, 

 willow and birch browse, berries; entire food tends to make tender flesh. 



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