RICHARDSON'S GROUSE. 



THIS bird, which is another race of the Dusky Grouse, 

 inhabits the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains 

 from central Montana northward, through the interior 

 of British North America, and is known as Richardson's 

 Grouse. It is almost precisely similar in plumage to the 

 Dusky Grouse, but lacks the distinct gray band on the 

 tip of the tail, or has it very slightly indicated. The tail 

 seems to be more square at the tip, and the feathers are 

 much broader. Wherever its habitat overlaps that of 

 either of its relatives, such as in Wyoming and Idaho, the 

 present bird intergrades with them. It inhabits the same 

 kind of country, high mountains, and breeds wherever 

 found in spring, and passes much of the autumn in the 

 bottoms, along creeks where the cover is plenty and 

 berries abundant. 



This Grouse builds a nest similar to its relatives, if 

 scraping a slight hollow in the ground can be called 

 building, but the eggs are smaller, although marked and 

 colored in the same way. It did not seem to me to be 

 as numerous in the places it frequented as were its rela- 

 tives in their habitats, and in certain portions of Montana 

 I have rarely met with it, but in other sections, as in the 

 Big Horn Mountains, it is common. Its habits do not 

 differ from those of the Dusky or Sooty Grouse, and the 

 description of these already given will suffice for this bird 

 as well. In size it equals the others, and its flesh is as 

 white and well-flavored. 



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