TETRAONID.E — THE GROUSE. 459 



ing into the loose snow, working their way beneath its surface with con- 

 siderable celerity. In thick, windy, or snowy weather they were very shy, 

 percliing on the taller willows, where it required a sharp eye to distinguish 

 them from flakes of snow. In the summer season they feed chiefly on the 

 berries of the alpine arbutus and other shrubs and plants, which are laid 

 bare by the thaw, and which do not disappear until they are replaced by a 

 new crop. They incubate about the beginning of June, at which time the 

 females moult. The males assume their red-colored plumage as soon as the 

 rocks and eminences become bare, at which time they are in the habit of 

 standing upon large stones, calling in a loud and croaking voice to their 

 mates, which, still in their white wintry garb, are hidden in the snows be- 

 low. These birds are more usually in motion in the milder liglit of night 

 than in the broad glare of day. 



Captain Blakiston traced this Grouse across the interior from Hudson's Bay 

 to near the Eocky Mountains, and obtained a single specimen near Fort 

 Carlton. It does not come down every winter, however, so far south on the 

 Upper Saskatchewan. Near Lake Winnipeg, at Fort Cumberland, and to the 

 eastward, they are common every winter, and numbers are obtained from 

 the shores of Hudson's Bay. Mr. Eoss gives this species as common on the 

 Mackenzie. Mr. Eobert MacFarlane found it around Fort Anderson, where, 

 he writes, it was always very numerous in that quarter at all seasons, 

 and generally not difficult of approach. During the breeding-season the 

 males were to be found perched upon trees and stumps in the vicinity of 

 the nest, while the female w^ould rarely leave the latter until almost trodden 

 on. Tliey are also said, by Mr. MacFarlane, to assume their summer plu- 

 mage earlier than the males, differing in this statement from Dr. Eichard- 

 son's. Their nest is always on the ground, and consists only of a few de- 

 cayed leaves placed in a depression. Sometimes other materials, such as 

 hay, moss, feathers, etc., are found. While incubating, the female occa- 

 sionally sits so close as to allow herself to be caught, rather than leave the 

 nest. 



They begin to nest early in June, varying a little with the season, not 

 commencing so soon where the ground at tliat period was still covered with 

 snow. Eggs taken from the oviduct were almost invariably pure white in 

 color. In one instance an egg taken from the oviduct of a female, June 5, 

 that had previously deposited eight eggs the same season, was covered with 

 coloring matter or marking so soft as to adhere to the fingers when touched. 

 After the female has once begun to lay, Mr. MacFarlane observed that she 

 deposits one egg each day until the whole number has been reached. This 

 varies from eight to ten. 



The males were always observed in the immediate vicinity of the nest, 

 and began to assume their summer moult about the 6th of June, most of 

 their necks at that time being already of a reddish-brown color. The nests 

 were always on the ground, and were mere depressions lined with a few soft 



