122 Capt. Blakiston on the Birds of the 



total length. The eye was of a light yellowish brown ; feet 

 very light greenish ash, feathered as far as the division of the 

 toes ; bill dusky brown ; patch above the eye yellow. A decided 

 half-erected crest is observable on the bird^s head when alive. 

 In my wanderings, I met with these birds only in or near the 

 pine-woods on the slopes of the Rocky Mountains ; but, having 

 only killed females, I cannot be certain of the species. One or 

 the other Dusky or Black-tailed Grouse ranges towards the 

 Pacific, as far as the Cascade Mountains of Oi-egon, Washington, 

 and British Columbia, and along the Rocky Mountains from the 

 head waters of the Platte to the Liard River, a tributary of the 

 Mackenzie. When the two species are properly defined, I think 

 it likely that T. richardsonii will turn out to be the more northern. 



Tetrao canadensis. 



The Canada Grouse is given in the ^ Fauna Bor.-Am.' as a 

 resident in the thick spruce-forests of the interior, and one is 

 there noted from the eastern declivity of the Rocky Mountains : 

 there is also a specimen in the Smithsonian Institution from 

 Red River Settlement ; and it is given by Mr. Murray from 

 Hudson's Bay. I found it as far west as Fort Carlton; and 

 Mr. Ross has traced it northward on the Mackenzie to the 

 Arctic coast. 



91. Tetrao franklini. 



This bird, first made known as a distinct species, by specimens 

 from the Rocky Mountains, by the lamented David Douglas, 

 seems to be confined to that range and ihe country lying between 

 it and the Pacific. Not being aware of the existence of a bird 

 closely allied to T. canadensis, I did not take any particular care in 

 examining individuals which I obtained at different times on the 

 Saskatchawan ; but still I think, if I had come across this bird, I 

 should have been attracted by the dissimilarity. The first time 

 I observed Franklin's Grouse was while following an Indian trail 

 through thick pine-woods, from the summit of the Kootonay 

 Pass into the valley of the Flathead River, on the 21st of August 

 1858. I do not know what induced me to shoot the bird, for 

 it was not my custom to waste ammunition ; but it may have 

 been that I was in better humour than usual from having just 



