578 THE FRANKLIN GROUSE. 
great celerity, but also to hide in the tree-tops, squatting and freezing so per- 
fectly that it requires a practiced eye to detect it. The Indians used to be 
very successful on the still-hunt, especially in winter, when the birds keep 
altogether to the tree-tops, spending the season in a semi-lethargic state, 
feeding exclusively upon fir buds. 
The flesh of the Sooty Grouse , altho counting as dark meat, offers excel- 
lent eating in the proper season. The bird attains a goodly size, three, four, 
or even five pounds in the case of a cock, and there is no reason to suppose 
that the supply would not last for several decades yet, if shot under proper 
restrictions as to quantity and season. As matter of fact, however, four-fifths 
of the birds already killed in this State have been slaughtered by campers and 
prospectors in the summer months. The relative abundance of the Sooty 
Grouse has been correspondingly reduced, and unless our citizens take a saner 
view of their privileges, the most valuable of our game birds will ultimately 
become a tradition. 
No. 232. 
FRANKLIN’S GROUSE. 
A. O. U. No. 209. Canachites franklinii (Dougl.). 
Synonyms.—FRANKLIN’s Spruce Grouse: Foo. Hex. Brive Grouse. 
Tyre Grouse. Mountarn Grouse. Woop Grouse. 
Description——Somewhat as in foregoing, but lighter, and plumage more 
varied ; upper tail-coverts strikingly banded black-and white. Adult male; Above 
finely varied black and grayish in transverse pattern; below chiefly black, throat 
sharply bordered on sides by crescentic white stripe, feathers of breast and sides 
tipped with white marks of increasing size posteriorly; flanks color of back with 
sharp wedge-shaped white marks; tail uniformly black or narrowly tipped with 
white; upper tail-coverts black broadly tipped with white, the lower tail-coverts 
still more extensively white; a touch of white on lore; naked skin over eye orange. 
In certain specimens the black of breast is cut off from throat by invasion of gray, 
and correspondingly restricted below. Adult female: Above chiefly black but 
highly varied by transverse bars and skirtings of gray and ochraceous or buffy; 
below chiefly whitish or tinged with ochraceous on breast and sides and barred 
with black; feathers of flanks and scapulars broadly streaked centrally with white ; 
tail black with white tip (much broader than in male). Length of adult: 15.00- 
17.00 (381-431.8) ; wing 7.00 (177.9); tail 5.50 (139.7). 
Recognition Marks.—Small crow size, mottled black and gray above; below 
black (in male) sharply marked and defined by white; upper tail-coverts con- 
spicuously banded black-and-white. 
Nesting.—Nest: Much as in preceding. Eggs: 8-14, creamy buff to pale 
