^'""isuT'"'] PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 515 



made its appearance at Portage la Prairie, on the Assiniboine, where, 

 according to Mr. Nash, it is now (1890) : 



Resident ; increasing m number every year. The first Ilieard of was killed in tLe 

 fall of 1882, about 8 miles north of Portage la Prairie. In 1883 I heard of them in 

 one or two places. In 1884 I killed several and heard of them from most of my 

 friends who shoot. Those I saw were all young birds except one. This was in full 

 plumage. In April, 1885, I put up several single birds on a piece of breaking, and 

 afterwards heard in various directions their peculiar booming. Since that they 

 have become tolerably common. 



Red River Valley, 1885 : It is now a permanent resident here, but 

 only during the past few years; they are gradually working their way 

 north from Minnesota, and have appeared at Westbourne (Hunter). 

 Carberry: In December, 1886, I found it had made an appearance 

 there, having been observed ; also at Melbourne ; in 1890, Mr. Hine 

 writes me that it was now an abundant summer resident (Thompson). 



On December 1, 1880, A\as shown a Prairie Hen {Tympanuchiis ameri- 

 canns) shot near by, and was told that young Ed. Thompson shot an- 

 other here last fall. Previously the bird was unknown in the neigh- 

 borhood. December 20, at Melbourne, 7 miles east of Carberry, saw 

 two Prairie Hens. The species is evidently working towards the north 

 and west, no doubt following the plow. 



The first information I received of the appearance of the Pinnated Grouse in this 

 province was from a farmer, living about 8 miles north of this town (Portage la 

 Prairie), who had shot one in the fall of 1882. I did not see the bird, but from the 

 description he gave me of it I could not mistake it. I immediately made inquiries 

 among the hunters of this locality, but no one else had seen it. In the fall of 1883 I 

 again heard of the bird in one or two places, but saw none myself. In the fall of 

 H84 it became plentiful, comparatively speaking, in this neighborhood, and to the 

 eastward, that is to say between here and Winnipeg, I had the good fortune to secure 

 two specimens in rather a lucky fashion. I was out with a friend chicken-shooting, 

 October 6, 1884, at Burnside, a settlement 10 miles west of this town, when we saw a 

 large flock of grouse alight in a stubble field near us. When we reached the field 

 three birds got up, of which I killed two with the first barrel, and the other with the 

 second barrel. Of the two first killed, one was a Pinnated Grouse, the other a Sharp- 

 tailed Grouse ; the one killed with the second barrel was a Pinnated Grouse. I got no 

 others, but heard of them from nearly all of my acquaintances who hunt. Strange 

 to say, all that were obtained, except one, appear to have been young birds, and this 

 one was in full plumage, having on each side of the neck the long pointed feathers 

 peculiar to the species. So far as I can learn with any degree of certainty, these 

 birds are not yet (March, 1885) found tnuch west of the place where I killed mine, 

 nor farther north than 10 or 12 miles from Portage la Prairie. They are evidently 

 working in here fro-n Minnesota and Dakota, and are following the grain. Up to 

 this time the Sharp-tailed Grouse has been very abundant, but, as might be expected 

 it is getting scarcer in the vicinity of the towns. So far, both birds here associate 

 together when they pack and find food in the stubbles. (Nash, in Professor Cook's 

 report on migration, 1885). 



In 1886, near Winnipeg, I found them abundant, about one-third of the Prairie 

 Grouse seen being of this species. They do not visit the deep woods as do the Sharp- 

 tailed Grouse, but in the winter frequent the willow shrub for shelter. Nor do they 

 so often alight on trees as the other species. The serrations attached to their toes are 

 much smaller than those of either the Rutfed or Sharp-tailed Grouse, which may per- 

 haps be the reason. 



