SOOTY GROUSE. 95 
was made to escape. Drawing nearer, I fired at one as 
he rose, when the rest took wing but flew only a short 
distance before alighting, and then began to run. They 
tcok wing again as | advanced, when I secured two more, 
and with little trouble and being obliged to walk but a 
short distance I shot all but one, and he, finding the place 
altogether unhealthy, flew down the mountain side, after 
I had fired several times at his companions, and escaped. 
This was in the month of September, but snow had not 
yet fallen, and berries of various kinds were plentiful on 
the bushes and vines, affording ample fcod for the birds. 
They were fat and in fine condition, and made a most 
acceptable addition to our camp larder. 
In the thick firs it is practically impossible to see these 
birds, as they not only remain motionless, often squatting 
close to the limb or to the trunk itself, but their dark, 
sooty plumage helps very much to conceal them; so, if 
one’s eyes do light upon a bird, it is usually deemed to be 
only a knot or a bunch of some kind attached to the limb 
or trunk. The males have the same habit in the spring, as 
that already described in the article on the Dusky Grouse, 
of blowing up the yellow sac on the side of the neck, and 
emitting a sound that is heard for a considerable dis- 
tance, a sort of boom, and from its ventriloquial powers, 
it is impossible to determine whence it comes, or where 
the bird is located. At such times, could you catch 
a glimpse of the performer he would present a curious 
appearance, for his neck would be puffed out until it 
seemed as large as his body, or as if he was suffering 
from a severe attack of the goiter, while the head, 
apparently reduced in dimensions, would be perched 
upon these yellow globes, and the bright eyes, half closed 
from the pressure below them, would be surmounted by 
a conspicuous semicircle of brilliant orange. The air 
