GROUSE 



27 



over its range, being so abundant in Boston tliat 

 laborers and servants are said to have stipulated 

 with their masters not to have it upon tlie table 

 more than a few times a week. (Chamberlain, 

 A Popular Handbook of the Ornithology of the 

 United States and Canada.) It remained more 

 or less common locally until after the year 1800, 

 but between that time and 1869 it appears to have 

 been exterminated from the mainland and to 

 have been preserved on Marthas V'inej'ard only 

 by special protection. Its numbers there 

 dwindled until 1906 when a destructive fire swept 

 over the breeding range and the number was re- 

 duced to less than fifty. Since then, under 

 stringent protection, the remnant has so increased 

 that the colony has been estimated (1916) at 

 from five hundred to one thousand birds. 



The Heath Hen or Heth'en, as it is called on 

 Marthas Vineyard, is a bird of dry, sandy, 

 scrubby plains, or barrens. It long occuj)icd such 

 regions in Massachusetts, Long Island, New 

 York, and New Jersey and still prefers them in 

 its last retreat on Marthas Vineyard, where it 

 keeps mainly to the dry sandy plains in the in- 

 terior which have been swept by fires for cen- 

 turies and which now support a growth composed 

 of scattering low pitch pines, scrub oaks, and 

 other still smaller shrubbery. From this cover 



the birds make forays to the open farm lands, 

 which they frecpient more or less, to the shore, 

 and more rarely to the woods, but in some parts 

 of the island which are wooded with a good 

 growth of oak and pine, the Meath Hen is rarely 

 seen. Also it seems to be rare or practically 

 absent in the western end of the island, which is 

 largely a region of hilly pastures. 



The habits of this bird are much like those of 

 the Prairie Chicken. The booming of the males 

 is not so deep in tone, but the wooing antics are 

 much the same. The mother and her young sleep 

 on the ground, but the males, and possibly also 

 the females, often alight on the tops of small 

 trees, and flocks have been known to alight and 

 remain for some time on the roof of a farm 

 house. This bird is believed to drink only rain 

 or dew that it finds on vegetation. The Heath 

 Hen feeds in spring and summer on grasshop- 

 pers and other insects, tender foliage, and berries. 

 In winter it has to subsist largely on dried leaves, 

 buds, and acorns, but it is fond of corn and peas 

 and sometimes is destructive in gardens. 



If the Massachusetts authorities continue to 

 handle their problem wisely there is hope that the 

 Heath Hen may yet. be introduced and propa- 

 gated under protection in other parts of its for- 

 mer habitat. Edward Howe Forbush. 



SHARP-TAILED GROUSE 

 Pedioecetes phasianellus phasianellus ( Linn(rus) 



A. O. U. Number 308 



Other Names. — Prairie Chicken of the Northwest; 

 Northern Sharp-tailed Grouse; Spike-tail; Pin-tail; 

 Pin-tailed Grouse; Sprig-tailed Grouse; White Grouse; 

 White-belly; Black-toot; Sharp-tail. 



General Description. — Length, 20 inches. Color 

 above, yeIlo\vish-l>ro\vn, sprinkled with black; below, 

 whitish. A'o tufts on side of neck, but the patch 

 of distensible skin is hidden ; head, slightly crested ; 

 tarsus feathered to base of toes; toes with a fringe of 

 horny processes in winter ; tail, graduated and much 

 shorter than wing with feathers square at tips and 

 middle pair extending some distance beyond the others ; 

 middle tail-feathers of female shorter than those of 

 male. 



Color. — Head and neck, deep huffy; a dull whitish 

 area on each side of neck and a whitish stripe behind eye ; 

 upper parts everywhere closely and evenly variegated 

 with blackish-brown, dull chestnut, and grayish, these 

 marks smallest on rump, reddish tones most pronounced 

 on back, and the lighter colors everywhere sprinkled 

 with blackish ; wing-coverts, like back but each feather 



with a conspicuous rounded white spot ; crown and back 

 of neck also like back but smaller pattern, the bars 

 mostly traverse; throat, light buff, unmarked; under 

 parts, bufFy-white toward throat, clearer zvhite below; 

 breast with numerous U- and V-shaped spots of dark 

 brown ; similar but smaller spots scattered over rest of 

 under parts except on middle of abdomen ; primaries, 

 brownish ; secondaries with square yellowish-white spots 

 tipped with white, the inner ones varied with colors 

 of back; four middle tail-feathers, also like back, others 

 white on inner webs, mottled on outer; bill, dark horn- 

 color, flesh-colored below ; iris, light brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : A hollow in the ground, 

 lined with coarse grass and feathers. Eggs : 10 to 16, 

 grayish-olive uniformly spotted with brown rarely 

 larger than a pinhcad. 



Distribution. — Central .Maska and northwestern 

 British Columbia east through central Keewatin to 

 central-western Ungava. and south to Lake Superior 

 and the Parry Sound district, Ontario; casual east to 

 Saguenay River, Quebec. 



