SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. 



'T'HERE are three races of Sharp-tailed Grouse: a dark 

 form, almost black in its markings, and two lighter 

 colored subspecies. The present is the dark style and 

 has a high Northern dispersion, never coming within the 

 boundaries of the United States. It ranges throughout 

 British America as high as 69° of north latitude, and does 

 not come to the south much below 52°. It has not been 

 found west of the Rocky Mountains, but occurs on some 

 of the eastern slopes, is abundant near Great Slave Lake, 

 and on the Atlantic side of the continent is not uncom- 

 mon around Hudson Bay. 



Mr. MacFarlane has given about all the information 

 we have of this species in its native haunts, and he says 

 it breeds in the pine forests on both sides of the Lock- 

 hart and Anderson rivers, where some nests were taken. 

 A single brood is raised in a season, and its habits and 

 economy do not differ from the better known birds liv- 

 ing within the limits of the L^nion. The jiumber of eggs 

 ranges from seven to fourteen, of a fawn or very dark 

 buf¥ color, or olive-brown marked with small spots of 

 reddish brown. The eggs are much darker in appearance 

 than those of either of the subspecies, and, like those of 

 many of the other species of Grouse, the markings can 

 be easily rubbed ofif, leaving the shell a pale hue, some- 

 times almost white. Incubation begins very early, before 

 the snow and ice have vanished in those northern regions, 

 and nests with eggs have been found as early as the be- 

 ginning of May. It dwells both in the wooded districts 



123 



