DUSKY GROUSE 123 
“Near our camp by the foot of Pecos Baldy, Mr. 
Bailey discovered a winter roosting tree of the grouse. 
The tree was on a sheltered part of the wooded slope 
and was so densely branched that after a prolonged 
rain the ground beneath was perfectly dry. The earth 
was strewn with winter droppings, composed entirely 
of the leaves of conifers. Conifer needles had also 
been eaten by three of the grouse that were taken... 
in July and August, but at this season the birds were 
living principally on such fresh food as strawberries, 
bearberries (Arctostaphylos uva-urst), sheperdia ber- 
ries, flowers of the lupine and paint brush, seeds, green 
leaves, grasshoppers, caterpillars, ants and other in- 
sects. But one crop contained twenty-seven strawber- 
ries, twenty-eight bearberries and twelve sheperdia 
berries, besides flowers, leaves and insects, while the 
accompanying gizzard was filled with seeds, green 
leaves and insects.” 
In some sections of the West the dusky grouse are 
reported to pack in the autumn, forming very large 
flocks, but I have never seen anything of the kind. 
Usually, in my experience, only the members of a 
single brood, ranging in numbers from eight to twenty, 
are found together. Sometimes, however, in summer, 
on the high peaks, flocks of a dozen old males are 
found associated together. 
It is said that in Colorado and parts of Montana, 
where grain is grown adjacent to the mountains or the 
timber occupied by the dusky grouse, the birds are 
frequently found feeding on the stubble fields. If this 
