550 GAME BIBBS OF CALIFOBNIA 



eggs could be confused with those of the Grouse. Incubation prob- 

 ably lasts about three weeks, judging from the dates for fresh eggs 

 and newly hatched j^oung. 



John Muir (1901, pp. 217-218) relates that he has seen broods of 

 young in the Sierras running beneath the firs in June. 



On the approach of danger, the mother Avith a peculiar cry warns the lielpless 

 midgets to scatter and hide beneath leaves and twigs, and even in plain open 

 places it is almost impossible to discover them. In the meanwhile the mother 

 feigns lameness, throws herself at your feet, kicks and gasps and tiutters, to draw 

 your attention from the chicks. The young are generally able to fly about the 

 middle of July; but even after they can fly well they are usually advised to run 

 and hide and lie still, no matter how closely approached, while the mother goes on 

 mth her . . . acting. . . . Sometimes, however, . . . she tells them to take "wing; 

 and up and away in a blurry birr and whir they scatter to all points of the com- 

 pass . . . dropping cunningly out of sight three or four hundred yards off, and 

 keeping quiet until called. . . . 



While there is no actual migration in the case of the Sierra Grouse, 

 a vertical movement is apparent just folloM'ing the breeding season, 

 with a complementary return upon the advent of winter. The males 

 work up the mountains toward the timber line rather early and are 

 followed by the females with their broods later on, say after the first 

 of August. Belding (1879, p. 438) says that in late September it 

 is difficult to find the grouse in locations where they are common 

 earlier in the year. He attributes this to a vertical migration or in 

 part, perhaps, to their taking to the denser conifers (such as the red 

 fir and alpine hemlock). 



The vegetable food of the Sierra Grouse has been fairly well 

 determined by Belding (1892&, pp. 232-233) who dissected many 

 stomachs of specimens shot by him in the central Sierra Nevada, 

 more than twenty years ago. The following is a synopsis of his 

 findings with the scientific names of the plants revised to accord with 

 present nomenclature (Hall and Hall, 1912). The thimble berry 

 {Ruhus parviflorus) appears to be the favorite article of diet, and 

 next to this the service berry {Amelanchier alnifolia). Several kinds 

 of wild currants and gooseberries (Rihes) are taken, as well as red 

 elderberry (Samhvcus racemosa). green manzanita (Arcfostaphylos 

 patula), and dwarf manzanita {A. iicvadcnsis), dwarf twinberry 

 (Lonicera ronjugialis), Sierra bilberry {Vaccinium occidentale), 

 mountain ash (Pints occidentalis), lupine (Lupinus sp.), false sun- 

 flower (Wyethia mollis), "caraway {Glycosoma)^\ and mitrewort 

 (Mitella hreweri). Acorns of the huckleberry oak (Quercus vaccini- 

 folia) are sometimes eaten. "After the young grouse are hatched 

 the mother bird takes them to alder and willow thickets where they 

 find seclusion and whter. Here they also find some insect food (which 



