124 GAME BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



and in the open country, and from the striking con- 

 trast between the black and white of its plumage pre- 

 sents a very handsome appearance. The legs are very 

 heavily feathered and the feet also, the toes being com- 

 pletely covered to the claws, thus affording ample pro- 

 tection to the bird against the intense cold of the Arctic 

 regions in which it lives. 



Between the typical style of the Sharp-tailed Grouse 

 and that of the Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse there is 

 exhibited in the birds living on our Northern borders and 

 some distance beyond, every gradation between the dark 

 Arctic birds and the light-colored ones of the United 

 States, so that it is impossible to fix any precise limit to 

 the habitat of either form. It can only be stated that, 

 as the United States form goes northward it gradually, 

 by successive degrees, darkens into the typical Grouse 

 of the Arctic regions, having no especial locality where 

 the divergence commences. In size it is about the same 

 as the Columbian Grouse, and doubtless its flesh is 

 equally palatable. 



PEDICECETES PHA SI A NELL US. 



Geographical Distribution.— V,v\i\sh. America from Lake 

 Superior and Hudson Bay to Fort Simpson. 



Adtilt Male.— To^ of head, neck, and entire upper parts, black, 

 barred and mottled everywhere except on top of head, with buff, 

 the bars narrow, thus making the prevailing color black, instead 

 of brown or buff; the bars are pale buff on rump and upper tail- 

 coverts, giving these a lighter appearance than the rest of the 

 upper parts; wings, like the back, with broad, central white 

 streaks on the scapulars, and white spots on the coverts and 

 white bars and tips to the secondaries; primaries, dark chocolate 

 brown, with equidistant white spots on outer webs; under parts, 

 white, spotted with black on the throat and front of neck, and 

 broad V-shaped blackish brown marks near the center of the 



