THE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. 



In open woodlands far remote 



The Sharp-tails utter their cackling note, 



And on the wiW prairie ground 



Their simple nest and eggs are found. 



Long years agone, in countless pairs 

 They courted, danced, and " put on airs," 

 Bu* hunters, greedy, cruel — strange ! 

 Have driven them beyond their range. 



C. C. M. 



ft WELL-KNOWN observer, who 

 has spent many years in the 

 West, says that the Sharp- 

 tailed Grouse, being a bird of 

 the wild prairies and open woodlands, 

 has gradually retreated westward as 

 the settlements have advanced, and will 

 soon be a rare bird, to be looked for 

 only in the sand-hills and unsettled por- 

 tions of the country. 



During the summer months this bird 

 inhabits the open prairies, retiring in 

 winter to the ravines and wooded lands, 

 and when the snow is deep and the 

 weather severe often hides and roosts 

 beneath the snow. This sometimes 

 proves the destruction of the birds, the 

 entrance to the roosting-place being 

 filled by falling snow and frozen over. 



The Sharp-tails feed chiefly on Grass- 

 hoppers, seeds, buds, blossoms, and 

 berries. 



"When walking about on the ground 

 they stand high on their legs, with their 

 sharp-pointed tails slightly elevated, 

 and when flushed, rise with a whirring 

 sound of the wings, uttering as they go a 

 guttural kuk-kuk-kiik^ and swiftly wing 

 themselves away in a direct course. 

 The birds have several cackling notes, 

 and the males a peculiar crowing or 

 low call, that in tone sounds somewhat 



like the call of the Turkey. In the 

 early spring, as the love season ap- 

 proaches, they select a mound or slight 

 elevation on the open prairies for a 

 courtship ground, where they assemble 

 at early dawn, the males dancing and 

 running about in a circle before the 

 females in a most ludicrous manner, 

 facing each other with lowering head, 

 raised feathers and defiant loo^s, cross- 

 ing and recrossing each other's paths in 

 a strutting, pompous way, seldom fight- 

 ing, each acting as if confident of mak- 

 ing the greatest display, and thus win- 

 ning the admiration of and capturing 

 the hen of his choice. These meetings 

 and dances are kept up until the hens 

 cease laying and begin to sit." 



These Grouse place the nest in a 

 tuft of grass or under a low, stunted 

 bush. A hollow in the ground is 

 worked out to fit the body and lined 

 with a few blades of grass arranged in 

 a circular form. The hens attend 

 wholly to the hatching and rearing of 

 the young and are attentive and watch- 

 ful mothers. 



The flesh of the Sharp-tail is lighter 

 in color and more highly esteemed than 

 that of the Prairie Hen, and the bird 

 is therefore hunted more industriously. 



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