TETRAONID^ — THE GROUSE. 439 



round each other in slow waltzing time, always maintaining the same atti- 

 tude, but never striking at each other. Sometimes the pace increased, and 

 one pursued the other until the latter faced about. Others jumped about 

 two feet in the air until out of breath, and then strutted about in a peculiar 

 manner ; and others went marching about with tails and heads as high up 

 as they could get them. 



Captain Blakiston states that on the Saskatchewan this species was very 

 generally distributed throughout the interior. He met with it just below 

 the forks of the Saskatchewan, and traced it to the western base of the 

 Eocky Mountains. He found it breeding at Fort Carlton. He regards these 

 birds as of polygamous habits. In the fall they are found in families, in 

 the semi-wooded country bordering on the prairies. They percli on trees, 

 frequently at the very top, and their crops are found stuffed out with berries. 

 These are chiefly the fruit of the bearberry, the ground juniper, the snow- 

 berry, the small prairie roses, the buflalo-berry, and several kinds of buds. 

 They have also been known to feed on caterpillars and other insects baked 

 and crisped by prairie fires. Captain Blakiston was also an eyewitness 

 of one of the singular love-performances of these birds, known as dances. 

 His account of it, which is very full, is almost exactly in correspondence 

 with the account referred to as given by Mr. Lord. 



Mr. Eidgway met with this Grouse at one locality only, encountering them 

 late in September in the Upper Humboldt Valley. There it was found in con- 

 siderable numbers in the rye-grass meadows on the foot-slopes of the Clover 

 Mountains. They were startled from the ground, where they were hidden in 

 the grass, and when surprised frequently took refuge in the willow-thickets 

 along the streams near by. Their flesh was found to be most excellent. 



The eggs of this species vary considerably in size, but average about 1.80 

 inches in length and 1.30 in breadth. They are oval in shape, slightly 

 pointed at one end. Their ground varies from a light clay to a dark rusty- 

 brown, generally plain, but frequently speckled minutely with fine dottings 

 of a darker brown. 



Genus CUPIDONIA, Reichenbach. 



Cupidonia., Reichenbach, Av. Syst. Nat. 1850, p. xxix. (Tj^pe, Tetrao mpido, L.) 



G-EN. Char. Tail of eighteen feathers, short, half the lengthened wings; the feathers 

 stiflfened and more or less graduated. Bare inflatable air-sac of the neck concealed by a 

 tuft of long, stiff lanceolate feathers ; • an inconspicuous crest on the vertex. Tarsi 

 feathered only to near the base, the lower joint scutellate. Culmen between the nasal 

 fossae scarcely one third the total length. 



This genus, as far as knowni, is entirely peculiar to North America, where 

 but one species, with two races, is known. 



