THE SOOTY GROUSE. 577 
being especially fond of the red huckleberry, or peacock berry (lacciniui 
parvifoliuwm), which they devour together with its leaves. Salal-berries are 
also staple on Puget Sound, huckleberries in the mountains, and serv.c 
berries (Amelanchier florida and A. cusickii) east of the Cascades. This diet 
is varied by grasshoppers and other insects, as well as by seeds of many sorts. 
Sooty G 
of man, they are likely to make tame targets as they rise heavily into the near- 
‘ouse lie well to a dog, but unless previously filled with the fear 
est tree, and tamer yet as they sit and look down inquiringly at the hunter. 
Taken in Victoria From a photograph, copyright, 1908, by W. L. Dawson 
NEST AND EGGS OF SOOTY GROUSI 
THE OAK-LEAF NEST 
The young of the year, in particular, are very foolish, allowing themselves to 
be pelted repeatedly with stones until finally struck and killed. This trick has 
earned for them, in common with other species, the name “fool hen.” Mr 
D. E. Brown says the Sooty Grouse will hiss like a gander, especially when 
treed by a dog. The bird will thrust out its neck and peer down defiantly, 
hissing and squirming in anger over its interrupted meal 
Under repeated fire, the Wood Grouse learns not only to make away with 
