SOOTY GROUSE. 



'^HIS race of the last species ranges through the 

 northern Rocky Mountains from the southern Sierra 

 Nevada in Cahfornia to northern Alaska in the Coast 

 Range. Like the Dusky Grouse the present bird is a 

 mountain dweller and is found at altitudes of 9000 feet, 

 descending in winter 6000 or 7000 feet lower. It is much 

 darker than the Dusky Grouse and has a narrower band 

 on the tail, while the female has a dark rusty wash on the 

 upper parts of her plumage. In its habits it does not 

 differ from the preceding species and haunts the dense 

 spruce and fir forests, taking refuge in the dark foliage of 

 the trees and remaining motionless. I have met with this 

 bird on the very summit of the mountains in the Coast 

 Range, above the forest, and where the only covering 

 was stunted trees and small clumps of bushes. I was 

 riding along such a place one morning, my horse picking 

 his way carefully over the rocks and broken ground and 

 winding in and out among the low trees and bushes that 

 stood plentifully about, when I saw a covey of about 

 eight individuals of this Grouse upon the ground a short 

 distance in front of me. Although they saw me and my 

 horse very well, and must have heard his iron shoes 

 striking the stones long before we came into view, they 

 were not at all alarmed but continued to feed, running 

 about without the least concern. Dismounting, I ad- 

 vanced toward them, when they drew together and 

 looked at me in a wondering kind of a way, and one or 

 two flew up into a low tree that was near by, but no effort 



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