COLUMBIAN SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. 127 
and “dance” in a similar way to that described in the 
article on the Pinnated Grouse, although, if possible, 
they are more active in their movements and exhibit 
greater excitement. This “saturnalia” is preparatory 
to selecting mates for the serious business of the ap- 
proaching nesting season, and the males make the most 
frantic efforts to cause themselves to appear attractive to 
the numerous hens gathered around. They have, like 
the Pinnated and some other Grouse, a loose skin on the 
sides of the neck, capable of being inflated, swelling out 
like two great oranges, one on either side, which emit, 
when being exhausted, a sound that has been likened 
tc a “ bubbling crow,” quite different to the organ-like 
“boom” of the Prairie Chicken. Incubation begins the 
latter part of April, the nest being placed in a bunch of 
grass, well concealed from view, and consists of a depres- 
sion lined with grass and occasionally some feathers from 
the hen’s abdomen. On this are deposited from ten to 
fifteen eggs, pale buff or brown in color, covered with 
very fine reddish brown spots. In about three weeks 
the young appear, active little creatures running about 
as soon as they are freed from the shell, arid are carefully 
watched and tended by the hen, who is always ready to 
guard and defend them wifh great courage and deter- 
mination. Like the young of all Grouse, insects are the 
principal means of subsistence at this early period of their 
lives, and later they feed on seeds, leaves, and berries. 
Toward September the young are pretty well grown, and 
later they pack, assembling in large flocks, and are then 
usually wild and difficult to approach. In certain parts 
of their dispersion they resort to swamps and near-by 
woods. In winter they frequently retire to the timbered 
country, probably as a refuge from severe storms and 
deep snows, and at this time may often be seen perched 
