The Dusky Grouse 413 



But there is an exception to this among grouse 

 feeding in long grass early in the season, before 

 the young are very strong of wing. In little open 

 parks among heavy timber they may sometimes 

 be found out in the grass, acting somewhat like 

 pinnated grouse on stubble in early fall. In one 

 of some thirty acres lying hidden among the 

 towering ranks of Douglas fir that robe the 

 Coast Range of southwestern Oregon, I once 

 found them so plenty that in about an hour a 

 companion bagged seventeen, all in single shots 

 and rising in the open. As there was but one 

 shotgun in the party, I played dog, dropping flat 

 to the ground when one rose. So many of them 

 lay almost as close as pinnated grouse that I have 

 no doubt we could have tripled the bag with a 

 good dog. Their flight was almost exactly like 

 that of the pinnated, and with a dog there would 

 have been little difference between that and ordi- 

 nary summer prairie shooting. Such is by no 

 means the rule however, and how to get good and 

 certain shooting on this grouse is a problem not 

 easily solved. Many do not attempt it, but rely on 

 shooting with the rifle such as may fly up along 

 the trail when travelling the great forests, or use 

 them as a diversion from deer-hunting, or fishing, 

 when it is not necessary to go far from camp. 

 This grouse lays a dozen or fifteen eggs, and, like 

 the young of the pinnated and ruffed grouse, the 



