98 AMEEICAN GAME BIED SHOOTIXG. 



which differs from it only in having the tail feathers 

 entirely black, being dcToid of the broad terminal bar 

 of orange on the tail, and having the upper tail coverts, 

 "which are all black in Canadensis, tipped with white. 



With the exception of this slight difference, both varie- 

 ties are alike in habits and make the vast and silent forests 

 their homes. The Franklin variety is so highly prized 

 by the Indians of Oregon and AYashington Territory that 

 they call it the Tyee Kulla-Kulla, or chief bird, for they 

 consider it to have no peer, judged from a gastronomical 

 point of view. Being exceedingly tame and unsuspicious, 

 large numbers of this bird are destroyed by the red men 

 by simply knocking them down with a stick, or shooting 

 them from their perches; and if they wish to capture 

 them alive they merely put a noose on the end of a long 

 pole and slij) it over their heads. Their flesh is not 

 very palatable in winter, owing to the character of their 

 food, which is mainly composed of fir and spruce buds, 

 as these give it an acrid taste. This flavor is much appre- 

 ciated by some persons, however, as they consider it 

 rather "gamey" — the very thing most desired in wild 

 birds. The Franklin variety is tlie commonest member of 

 its sub-family in the spruce forests along the shores of the 

 Northern Pacific Ocean, and so abundant is it in August 

 and September that a person may easily bag fifteen or 

 twenty brace in a day. I do not know of any wild bird 

 that has so little fear of man, except one, for the mothers, 

 even when their chicks are with them, will run ahead of 

 him for some distance, and, when alarmed, merely jump 

 into the first busbes they meet. I have occasionally shot 

 them in September and October with a revolver, and 

 also killed one with a stick or a stone. Their tame- 

 ness is, in fact, almost stupid, for even when shot 

 at they will not always rise; and when they do, they 

 may merely fly to the first convenient tree, where all can 

 be bagged, if the lower are brought down first. 



