5')''> 



THE COLUMBIAN SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. 



lakfii ill chart^e hy tlie male wIiiIl' the female is ineuhating a second. If this 

 be the case, it is not impossible that the families may nnile later in the season. 

 On the 30th of Jul\' 1 once encountered on the slopes of Mount Sahale a covey 

 which appeared hi ha\e this double character. A number of young, apparently 

 three or four weeks old, burst from cover like partridges, while downy chicks 

 clamored at my feet. [ stooped to pick up one of the flnff-lialls, whereat the 



mother bird charged in- 

 Im m\- face, with such 

 fmy, indeed, that I was 

 cibliged to fend her ofi 

 with my arm, and I re- 

 leased the chick forth- 

 with for fear of mutual 

 injury. 



Late in Sepleni- 

 l)er the White - tailed 

 I'larmigans begin to 

 doti' summer browns 

 for a coat as white as 

 the driven snow, from 

 which the birds are dis- 

 tinguished alnne by 

 bead\' black eyes and 

 bills almost as black. 

 The feathering of the 

 toes also becomes more extensive: this provides these Grouse with snow- 

 shoes, which prove to be \ery useful articles in case of mountaineers who 

 insist upon spending the winter where the snnw is anywhere fr(>m ten to a 

 hundred feet deej). 



Photo by .-I. Cordon Bowlo. 

 PT.\KM1C,.\.\S ON ROCKY KIDGE. 



FOUR BIRDS .APPE.XR IN T K F, PIIOTOGR.VPH. 



No. 236. 



COLUMBIAN SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. 



A. O. U. No. 308 a. PedicEcetes phasianellus columbianiis (Ord.). 



Synonyms. — Comjujn Sh.xri' - r.Mija) C^iKcjusk.. I'ix-t.mlKd Grouse. 

 "Pr.mrie Chicke.n." 



Description. — .Idiilts: Above chiefly butTy gray or pale brownish finely 

 varied by irregular spots and bars of brownish black and lighter brownish ; 

 wing-coverts with rounded spots of white ; wing-quills fuscous, spotted on the 

 outer webs with whitish or tawny: the secondaries tipped with white and irregii- 



