438 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



tised eye to distinguish one of these birds from the ground on which it has 

 fallen, even though the eye be kept on the spot where it was seen to fall. 

 This similarity, of colors with those of the prairie no doubt effectually con- 

 ceals them from the hawks and owls. 



Its favorite haunt is on open grassy plains in tlie morning, keeping con- 

 cealed in the long thick grass, coming about midday to the stream to drink, 

 and to dust itself in the sandy banks. It seldom goes into the timber, al- 

 ways remains close to the prairie, and never retires into the depth of the 

 forests. It lays its eggs on the open prairie in a tuft of grass, or near the 

 foot of a small hillock, nesting early in spring, and depositing from twelve 

 to fourteen eggs. The nest is a mere hole scratched in the earth, with a few 

 grass-stalks and root-fibres laid carelessly and loosely over the bottom. Mr. 

 Lord describes the eggs as of a dark rusty-brown, with small splashes or 

 speckles of darker brown thickly spattered over them. 



After nesting-time they appear in broods about the middle of August, the 

 young birds being about two thirds grown. At this time they frequent the 

 margins of small streams where there is thin timber and underbrush. After 

 the middle of September they begin to pack, two or three coveys getting to- 

 gether, and flock after flock joining until they accumulate into hundreds. On 

 the first appearance of snow they begin to perch on the dead branches of 

 a pine or on the. tops of fences. Near Fort Colville, after snow fell, they 

 assembled in vast numbers in the large wheat-stubbles. They became wary 

 and shy, the snow rendering every moving thing so conspicuous that it was 

 next to impossible for dogs to hunt them. 



The food of this Grouse consists principally of berries in the summer 

 months, such as the snowberry, the bearberry, the haws of the wild rose, 

 and the whortleberry, grain, the larvie of insects, grass-seeds, etc. In the 

 winter they run over the snow with ease and celerity, dig holes in it, and 

 burrow underneath in the manner of a Ptarmigan. During the two win- 

 ters Mr. Lord spent at Colville, flocks of these birds congregated around the 

 hayricks at their mule-camp. In a temperature often .30° and more below 

 zero, and the snow several feet deep, they were strong, fat, and wild, and did 

 not appear to suffer at all from the intense cold. Indeed, they are said to 

 pair very early in the spring, long before the snow has gone off the ground^ 

 and their meeting is preceded by some very singular performances, which 

 are called by the fur-traders chicken-dances, to several of which Mr. Lord 

 was an eyewitness. Groups of tliese birds assemble for their dances either 

 about sunrise or late in the afternoon, selecting for the purpose a high round- 

 topped mound, which in the course of their evolutions becomes worn quite 

 bare. At one of the dances witnessed by Mr. Lord there were about twenty 

 birds present ; the birds nearest him were head to head, like gamecocks in 

 fighting attitude, — the neck-feathers ruffed up, the little sharp tail elevated 

 straight on end, the wings dropped close to the ground, but keeping up a 

 rapid vibration or continued drumming sound. They circled round and 



