558 GAME BIRDS OF CALIFOENIA 



decrease in the number of Kuffed Grouse occurring in the eastern 

 part of the United States in 1907 was attributed by Forbush (1912, 

 pp. 380-382) and other observers to an unusual flight of Goshawks, 

 a raptorial species notably destructive to game birds. Of forty-eight 

 Goshawks dissected by one firm of taxidermists, twenty-eight had 

 remains of Ruffed Grouse in their stomachs; in another case thirteen 

 grouse were known to have been destroyed by hawks in one locality. 

 Another important agent in the destruction of Ruffed Grouse is fire, 

 when it sweeps brushy and forested areas. Sitting birds will often 

 remain on the nest until injured or even killed by the flames. 



C. F. Hodge (Anonymous, 1914) reports marked success in arti- 

 ficially rearing Ruffed Grouse. The young hatch readily and can be 

 raised with as much success as some domestic fowls. The adult birds 

 have to be kept in separate pens to prevent them from damaging one 

 another, especially at mating time ; and the species is, moreover, sub- 

 ject to one or two diseases whicli may give some trouble. On the 

 whole, artificial propagation in the case of this species would seem 

 unusually promising of satisfactory results. 



Because of its forest habitat it is probable that the Oregon Ruffed 

 Grouse will not markedly decrease in numbers within its restricted 

 range in northern California, at least as long as the forests remain. 

 Nevertheless its condition as to numbers should receive careful con- 

 sideration and any marked reduction be compensated for by closing 

 the hunting season for a period, or by other appropriate means. The 

 matter of its artificial propagation should also be thoroughly investi- 

 gated and, if feasible under Californian conditions, encouraged. It 

 would seem much more desirable to increase the numbers and extent 

 of range of our native game birds such as the Ruffed Grouse than to 

 attempt to introduce and acclimatize eastern or foreign species. 



Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse 

 Pedioecetes phasianellus columhianus (Ord) 



Other names — Prairie Chicken; Columbia Sharp-tail; Southern Sharp-tailed 

 Grouse; Pedioecetes coJumhianus ; Tetrao pliasiancllus ; Tetrao columhianus. 



Description — Adults, both sexes: Top of head and hind neck, mixed blackish 

 brown, pale clay-color and ashy -white; a pointed crest, rising from crown, brown- 

 ish black with buffy feather edgings; broad stripe at side of upper mandible, 

 running over eye and ear region, buffy white; naked comb over each eye, bright 

 yellow; narrow stripe from corner of mouth running below eye and through ear 

 region, brownish black; lower side of head and chin, pale cinnamon or buffy, 

 scatteringly streaked with brown ; bill dark olive, basal half of lower mandible 

 pearl gray; iris light brown; upper surface of body from hind neck to upper tail 

 coverts, mixed cinnamon, i)ale buff and brownish black, in an interruptedly barred 

 pattern and somewhat vormiculated, the general tone lightest on lower back and 



