THE SOOTY GROUSE. 575 
males are infrequent, and there is no great disparity in numbers between the 
sexes, So that the male, oftener than otherwise, mates but once during a season. 
At least he is not known to carry on his amours abreast. When the female 
has laid her complement of eggs, from six to nine, in a shallow, leaf-lined de- 
pression at the base of a tree, bush, or rock, the male joins himself to a small 
company of his widowed fellows, or else sulks out the season in ineffectual 
hoc ting. 
In choosing a nesting site the female is not at especial pains to find con- 
REE 
ye 
Taken near Tacoma. Photo by Dawson and Bowles 
SOOTY GROUSE ON NEST. 
AN EXAMPLE OF PROTECTIVE HARMONY 
cealment, relying rather upon the protective harmony of her surroundings,— 
how securely may be noted in the accompanying illustration, where the cover 
was of the slightest, yet perfectly in keeping. The bird even sits with half- 
closed lids, in order that the glint of the eye, the “high light,’’ may not betray 
her presence. 
The creamy buff eggs, also, with their light brown spots and splashes, are 
comparatively inconspicuous when exposed. In this connection it may be well 
to note a claim advanced by D. EF. Brown that eggs are occasionally unmarked 
