138 PRANK SCHLEY'S PARTRIDGE AND PHEASANT SHOOTING. 



the two winters Mr. Lord spent at Colville, flocks of these 

 birds congregated around the hay ricks 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 peribrmances, 

 which are called by the fur traders chicke'n-dances, to sev- 

 eral of which Mr. Lord was an eye-witness. Groups of 

 these birds assembled for their dances either about sunrise 

 or late in the afternoon, selecting for the purpose a high 

 I'ound topped mound, which in the course of their evolu- 

 tion becomes woi-n quite bare. At one of the dances wit- 

 nessed b}^ Mr. Lord there were about twenty birds present; 

 the birds nearest him were head to head, like game-cocks 

 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 

 round each other in slow waltzing time, always maintain- 

 ing the same attitude, 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 generall}' distributed thi'oughout the in- 

 terior. He met with it just below the forks of the Sas- 

 katchewan, and traced it to the western base of the Rocky 

 Mountains. He found it breeding at P^ort Carlton. He 

 regards these birds as of polygamous habits. In the Fall 

 they are found in families, in the semi-wooded countr}* 

 bordering on the prairies. They perch on trees, frequently 

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

 Ijcrries. These are chielly the fruit of the bearberr}', the 

 ground juniper, the snowborry, the small })rai!'ie ro.>es, 



