8o 



THE MUSEUM. 



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View from Fanolone Islands off San Francisco, Calif., showing the 

 immense Colonies of California Murres. 



and unsuspicious and consequently are 

 easily procured when once in their 

 haunts. They share the habit of 

 Grouse in general, of rising' abrn})tl\' 

 with a whirring noise generally but a 

 few feet in advance of the huntsman. 

 They fly some distance and alighting, 

 remain motionlc'ss after the manner of 

 the Ruffed Grouse. Specimens fre- 

 quently measure twenty-four inches in 

 length, so that the; Dusky (irouse is 

 one of the largest of the Grouse family. 

 They are generally hunted in the 

 month of August before the young are 

 fully grown, but the ])roper time is du- 

 ring September. They leave the As- 

 pen Grov(!S in the latter part of au- 

 tunm, retiriiig to the ]^ine belts where 

 they subsist largely iijjon the lea\es of 

 the Conifeara'. 1 have found newly- 

 hatched chicks by the 2 1st of June at 

 an altitude of 9,400 ft. They were 

 about the s\zc of domestic chicks with 

 their heads and backs beautifully strip- 

 ed with brown. 



A man living in the mountains once 

 captured three of these chicks, which 

 he took to his ranch and gave them in- 

 charge of a domestic hen, having a 

 brood of chicks of her own about the 

 size of the young grouse. One of these 

 died but the other two lived to become 

 of fair si/t; and then departed to the 

 woods to shift for themselves. I have 

 never known this grouse t(j make any 

 other note except a clucking something 

 similar to that of a domestic hen. 

 Their nesting habits do not appear to 

 to differ essentially from those of other 

 grouse. J£mI':ks()N Atkins, 



Formerly of 

 East Las Veqas, K. M. 



Santa Clara, Calif., I^ov. 25, 1894. 

 Dear Mr. Webl):— I iwust say that the Nov. 

 MusKUM has eoinr to hand and a most 

 pleasant surprise it is! 'I'ln' make-up is ixry 

 neat and eonlcnts (jooil. 



Is is totally unlilie any iJuljlication in the 

 lit'ld and I jn'cdiet a prospei'ous life for it. 

 Cordially Yours, 

 C. Baki.ow. 



