THE PEAIRIE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. 103 



have never seen any of these birds in summer, they are a])un(lant in winter. 

 At tliis season they hve in (quaking aspen thickets ah)ng the mountains, and 

 there I have seen lumdreds of them roosting on top of a l)ig barn wliich 

 stands just at edge of a grove of ijuakiug aspen timber. It was always easy 

 in the morning, just after sunrise, to step out of the house, and, with a .22- 

 cahber ritle, shoot oif tlie heads of as many of tliese birds as were needed for 

 eating for the next two or three days. 



"I have only (nie note on these birds which seems particuhxrly wortli 

 mentioning, and of this I spoke in my report to CoL William Ludlow, on the 

 birds noticed during a reconnoissance to the Black Hills of Dakota, in 1874, 

 which was published by the Engineer Bureau of the War Dejjartment. The 

 Sharp-tailed Grrouse has a cry which is unlike that of any other Grouse with 

 whicli I am familiar, although something very similar has been observed in 

 the case, I think, of one of the Ptariiiigans. On the plains of Dakota, in 

 1874, having scattered a brood of Sharp-tailed Grouse, consisting of a mother 

 and a dozen well-grown young, I sat down to wait for them to get together. 

 The mother had down to the top of a hill not far oflF, where she sat on the 

 ground in plain sight, and after a few moments began to call to the young, 

 which immediately answered her from the different points where they had 

 taken refuge. The call of the mother and the young was a guttural, raucous 

 croak, which quite closely resembled the croaking of a raven at a little dis- 

 tance. I plaiidy saw the old l)ird utter its note, and subsequently followed 

 up the calls uttered hv more than one of the young ones, until I started them 

 and killed one (^r two as they Hew. I do not know that this cry of the Sharp- 

 tailed Grouse has been noted by any other observer." 



Mr. Ernest E. Thompson has also kindly placed some of his notes on this 

 race, made in southern Manitoba, at my disposal, and I make the following 

 extracts from them: "The Sharp-tailed Grouse, while eminently a prairie bird 

 .in the summer time, usually retires to the woods and sandhills on the approach 

 of winter, but in the spring, ])efore the snow is gone, they again perform a par- 

 tial migration and scatter over the prairies, where alone they are to be found 

 during the summer. They are very shy at all times, l)ut during the winter 

 the comparatively heedless Individuals have been so thoroughly weeded out 

 by their numerous enemies, that It requires no slight amount of stalking to 

 get within the range of a flock In the springtime. 



"The advent of the Grouse on the still snow-covered plains might prove 

 premature, Init that they find a good friend in the wild prairie rose (Bosa 

 hhoiiJa), which is abundant everywhere; and tlie ruddy hips, mdike most fruits, 

 do not fall when ripe, but continue to hang on the stift' stems until they are 

 dislodged by the coming of the next season's crop. On the 'Big Plain' stones 

 of any kind are unknown, and In nearly all parts of Manitoba gravel is unat- 

 tainable during the winter, so that the Sharp-tails and other birds, that require 

 these aids to digesti(Hi, would be at a loss, were it not that the friendly rose 

 also supplies this need; for the hlj)s, besides being sweet and nutritious, coutain 



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