THE OREGON GUOUSE. 167 



THE OREGON GEOUSE. 



Bonasa umbellus, Var, sabini. — Douglas. 



|ABri\S. — The Western Ruffed (xrouse was found 



I abundant by Dr. Suckley ia the timbered districts 



(?ffl^ throughout Oregon and Washington Territory. Its 



^i" habits seemed to be identical with those of the East- 

 ern birds. Owing to tlie mildness of the season in the vi- 

 cinit}^ of Fort Steilacoom, the males commenced drumming 

 as early as January, and in Ecbruary they are heard to 

 drum throughout the night. In the autumn they collect 

 in great numbers in the crab apple thickets near the salt 

 marshes at the mouths of the rivers emptying into Puget 

 Sound. -There they feed for about six weeks on the ripe 

 fruit of the northwestern crab-apple, the Pyrus rivularis of 

 Nuttall. 



J)\'. Cooper also speaks ol" this Grouse as very abundant 

 everywhere about the borders of woods and clearings. It 

 was common near the forests east of the Cascade Moun- 

 tains up to the 49th degree. These birds vary in pluniage 

 ther<', a pale-grayish hue predomiiuiting. West of the 

 mountains they are all of a very dark brown. There was, 

 however, no perceptible difference ni their habits or cries 

 from those of the same bird elsewliere. 



Mr. J. K. Lord assigns to this s])ecies an extended geo- 

 graphical range west of the Rocky Mountains, — from the 

 borders of California, throughr)ut Oregon and Washington 

 Territoiy, extending high uj) on the slopes of the Rocky 

 Mountains, plentiful in all the timbered lands between the 

 Cascades and the rocky ruts along the banks of the Co- 

 lumbia, over the ridge of the Cascades, and down their 

 western slopes to Frazer's River, in all the; islands of the 



