THE FRANKLIN GROUSE. 581 
Columbia, and is said*—upon what authority I do not know—to extend west- 
ward to include the coast ranges of Oregon and Washington. I have shot it 
in late summer in the mountains of Yakima County, and in the upper Stehekin 
Valley in Chelan County. In the summer of 1908 I heard notes on Mount 
Rainier which I have been attributing to this bird, but it was neither seen nor 
heard on a trip thru the Olympics in the summer of 1890. 
Be that as it may, it is certain that Franklin’s Grouse enjoys a general 
distribution at the higher levels of the central ridge of the Cascade range, and 
that it extends at least as far south as the Natchez Pass, probably further. 
From its unsophisticated ways it has long been known to prospectors and tim- 
ber cruisers by the name “fool hen.” If discovered feeding in the trail, a 
little company of them will merely step aside to let the cavalcade pass, or else 
post in the nearest trees and bushes. Missiles have only a curious interest 
until a bird is struck, and several of the flock may be shot at leisure without 
the remainder being frightened 
away. 
The general economy of the 
Franklin Grouse is much that of 
the Sooty (D. o. fuliginosus). 
They range quite to timber-line. 
They subsist largely upon browse, 
preferring to other the buds and 
needles of coniferous trees, but 
they also descend in summer to 
gather berries of various sorts, 
and ground-fare. They appear 
to be strictly resident wherever 
found, and spend the winter sea- 
son in the depths of the fir trees. 
The male of the Franklin 
Grouse is said to drum in the 
spring after a unique fashion. The 
bird beats his wings rapidly in nano in one Telephoto by W. H. Wright 
mid-air while he sinks slowly FRANKLIN GROUSE, See 
from some elevated station to the 
ground, Or, again, he rises as he rolls his reverberant thunder, and only 
ceases when his former perch is reached. He has also various strutting antics, 
including a distension of the red eyebrows until they nearly meet over the 
crown. ‘The tail is spread to the utmost, then alternately half furled, first on 
one side and then on the other with a peculiar, silken, rustling sound. The 
a. A. O. U. Check List, 2d Ed., 1895 
