304 THE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. 
or speckles of darker brown thickly ata 
over them. 
After nesting-time, they first appear in coveys 
or broods about the middle of August ; the young 
birds are then about three parts grown, strong on 
the wing, and afford admirable sport. At this 
time they live by the margins of small streams, 
where there is thin timber and underbrush, with 
plenty of sandy banks to dust in. About the 
middle of September and on into October they 
begin to pack; first two or three coveys get 
together, then flock joins flock, until they 
gradually accumulate into hundreds. On the 
first appearance of snow they begin to perch, 
settling on high dead pine-trees, the dead 
branches being a favourite locality ; or, should 
there be any farms, they pitch round on the top 
of the snake-fences. At the Hudson’s Bay 
trading-post at Fort Colville there were large 
wheat-stubbles; in these, after the snow fell, 
they assembled in vast numbers. Wary and 
shy they are now, and most difficult to get at; 
the cause being, I apprehend, the snow rendering 
every moving thing so conspicuous, it is next 
to impossible for dogs to hunt them. 
Their food in the summer consists principally 
of berries —the snowberry (Symphoricarpus 
