SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. 163 



SHAEP-T AILED GEOUSE. 



Pedioecetes phasianellus, Var, phasianellus.— Elliot. 



|ABITS. — The Arctic form of the Sharp-tailed Grouse 

 found throughout the Arctic regions, from Alaska 

 southward and eastward to an extent not fully as. 

 certained. Mr. Dall states that this variety is not 

 uncomnien at Fort Yukon, where Mr. Lockhai"t found it 

 breeding and obtained its eggs. It has also been seen some 

 two hundred miles down the river, but it is said not to be 

 found below the canon known as the Eamparts. Captain 

 Ketchum, in his adventurous winter trip from Nulato to 

 Fort Yukon, is said to have killed several of these birds. 

 Specimens are in the Smithsonian Museum from Moose 

 Factory and elsewhere along the southern part of Hudson's 

 Bay, and it is said to be abundant about Nipigon Lake, 

 north of Lake Superior. 



Mr. Kennicott found the nest of this bird at Fort Yukon, 

 at the foot of a clump of dwarf willows. It was in dry 

 ground, and in a region in which these willows abounded 

 and were quite thickh" interspersed with other trees, espe- 

 cially small spruces, but no large growth. The nest is said 

 to have been similar to that of Cupidonia cupido. Mr. Lock- 

 hart also found it breeding in the same region. The nests 

 seen by him wei-e likewise built on a rising ground under 

 a few small willows. 



Eichardson assigns as the northern limit of this species 

 the region of the Great Slave Lake, latitude 61°, and as its 

 most southern point latitude 41°. It was found in abund- 

 ance on the outskirts of the Saskatchewan plains, and 

 throughout the wooded disti'icts of the fur countries, fre- 

 quenting the open glades or low thickets on the borders 



