46 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



it up, cdinpletely baffled. It is beyond my power to descrilje this love call 

 accurately. Some naturalists state that it resembles the sound made bv 

 blowing into the bunghole of an empty barrel; others find a resemblance to 

 the cooing of a pigeon, and' some to the noise made by whirring a rattan 

 cane rapidly through the air. The latter sound comes nearer to it in niv 

 opinion than anything else. The closest approach to it I can give in letters 

 is a deep guttural 'muhum,' the first letter scarcely sounded. 



"The accounts of the nestiiig habits of the Sooty Grouse are somewhat 

 vague, the number of eggs to a set being variously given as from eight to 

 fifteen. I have personally examined quite a number of the nests of this 

 Grouse between May 6, 1871, and June 25, 1883. The largest number of 

 eggs found by me in a set was ten in two instances; three sets contained 

 nine each, seven sets contained eight each, and five sets seven eggs or less. 

 The last were probably incomplete, although some of these sets were ad- 

 vanced in inculiation. I think that eight eggs is the ordinary number laid 

 by these birds. 



"Eggs may be looked for from April 15 to the latter part of May, 

 according to altitude. The earliest date on which I ()l)served eggs of this 

 Grouse was April 18, 1877, when a set was found by Lieut. G. R. Bacon, 

 First Cavalry, containing seven fresh s})ecimens. The nest was })laced on 

 the ground among the roots of a willow bush growing under a solitarv pine 

 tree in a small ravine 5 miles northwest of Camp Harney, Oregon. The nest 

 was composed entirely of dry pine needles picked up in the vicinit}^ 



"A nest found by me April 22, 1877, about 4 miles west of Camp 

 Harney, was placed under the roots of a fallen juniper tree, in a grove of 

 the same species, growing on an elevated plateau close to the pine belt. This 

 nest was well hidden, a mere depression in the ground, and composed of dry 

 grasses, a few feathers from the bird's breast, and dry j)ine needles. The 

 nine eggs were about half way imbedded in this mass, and nearly fresh. 



"As a rule, most of the nests found by me were placed in similar situa- 

 tions, mider old logs or the roots of fallen trees, and generally fairlv well 

 hidden from view, and amongst the more open pine timber along the out- 

 skii'ts of the forest proper. (Occasionally, however, a nest may be found 

 some little distance from timljer, and in the lower parts of mountain valleys. 

 I found such a nest on April 26, 1878, among some bunches of tall r}'e-grass, 

 in a comparatively open place, and within a yard of Cow Creek, a small 

 mountain stream about 4 miles east of Camp Harney. There was no timber 

 of any size, only small willow bushes, within 2 miles of this nest, which was 

 ])laced under one of these rye-grass bunches, and the bird sat so close that 

 I actually stepped partly on her and broke two of the eggs in doing so. 

 This nest contained eight slightly incubated eggs. It was composed of dead 

 grass and a few feathers. 



"The most exposed nest, without any attempt at concealment whatever, 

 that came imder my obsei'vation, I found on June 8, 1876, on the northern 



