DUSKY GROUSE 17 
The adult female is much darker than the typical 
dusky grouse, and often has the upper parts distinctly 
reddish, instead of being merely gray or buffy. 
Richardson’s grouse, found in the northern Rocky 
Mountains, has the tail without the terminal band of 
gray; otherwise it is much like the dusky grouse, but 
usually the tail feathers are broader and the tail more 
even. There are certain places in the Rocky Moun- 
tains—for example, in northwestern Montana—where 
the dusky grouse and Richardson’s grouse intergrade, 
and often it is impossible to say to which form a speci- 
men belongs. In this latter region the female is often 
gray, black mottled, with little or no tinge of buff. 
The sierra grouse, with a narrower tail band than 
the typical form, is found in the region from Fort 
Klamath, Oregon, south, through the mountains of 
California, to Mount Pifios, near old Fort Tejon. 
The dusky grouse, although not at all known by east- 
ern sportsmen, is yet easily the finest of our American 
species. It is exceeded in size only by the sage grouse, 
but in beauty, in edible qualities and in the sport it 
furnishes it far excels that species. 
The dusky grouse is found in all the mountain re- 
gions of the farther West, from Alaska south as far 
as the White Mountains of Arizona. Naturalists sepa- 
rate it into four forms, as given above; but in habits, 
and in the qualities which interest the gunner, all are 
much alike. It is not a migratory bird, but remains 
essentially in one locality throughout the year, al- 
though, like many mountain-dwelling birds and mam- 
