560 GAME BIRDS OF CALIFOFXIA 



dant and are now almost or entirely extirpated. When Newberry, 

 Cooper, Henshaw and other early naturalists were making observa- 

 tions upon the fanna of California, previous to 1880, they found this 

 species numerous in tlie plateau region northeast of the crest of the 

 Sierra-Cascade range. Since then, man's occupancy of that territory, 

 and uncontrolled levy upon its birds for food or sport, has resulted in 

 the apparently complete disappearance of this species. 



"Writing of the Sharp-tailed Grouse in 1857 (p. 94) , Newberry said : 



Coming north from San Francisco, we first found it on a beautiful prairie 

 near Canoe creek [near Cassel, Shasta County], about fifty miles northeast of 

 Fort Reading; subsequently, after passing the mountain cliain which forms the 

 upper canon of Pit River, we came into a level, grass-covered plain, through which 

 the Avillow-bordered river flows in a sinuous course like a brook through a meadow 

 [probably near Lookout, Modoc County]. On this plain were great numbers of 

 birds of various kinds, and so many of the sharp-tailed grouse, that, for two or 

 three days, they afforded us fine sport and an abundance of excellent food. We 

 found them again about the Klamath lakes. . . . 



In 1879 Henshaw (1880&, p. 317) wrote: "About Camp Bidwell 

 [Modoc County], Cal., the 'sharp-tails' are sutSciently numerous to 

 afford excellent shooting, and good bags may be made there. ' ' Cooper 

 (1870cf, p. 533) believed that the species ranged as far south as lati- 

 tude 39° (Lake Tahoe), but was not certain of this; while Bendire 

 (1892, p. 99) had record of its occurrence on the "eastern slopes of 

 the Siskiyou Mountains." Nothing else has to our knowledge been 

 printed concerning this grouse in California. Correspondence was 

 undertaken by us with local residents of the northeastern section of 

 the state, and some information obtained as to its more recent status. 



Mr. Chas. D. Meissner, Assistant Forest Ranger at Alturas, reports 

 (in letter dated January 18, 1916) that a pair of "Prairie Chickens" 

 was seen by him during April and Maj^, 1915, near Timbered Moun- 

 tain, central Modoc County. The behavior of the birds indicated that 

 they were nesting. They were always to be found in a certain locality, 

 open grassy country with but little sagebrush. The cock and the 

 hen were both "much smaller than the Sage Hen and when flushed 

 flew more rapidly and cackled more sharply but sailed the same." 



Mr. Claude R. Brown, residing at Lookout. Modoc County. Avrites 

 us (under date February 25, 1916) that lie had not seen any "Prairie 

 Chickens" himself for several years, but that a friend had .seen two 

 during the fall of 1915 on the ranch of William Kramer about one 

 mile northeast of Lookout. "At one time ])le.ntiful, flocks of fifty 

 or more being often seen, the birds have gradually diminished until 

 almost extinct." 



Mr. W. S. Criss, also of Lookout, writes us (under date February 

 25, 1916) that there were many "little brown Praii'ie Chickens" on 



