PRAIRIE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. 



'HpHIS race of the Sharp-tailed Grouse ranges from 

 Montana on the north to Wisconsin and Ilhnois on 

 the east, Colorado on the west, and New Mexico on the 

 south. This is practically its present distribution, but 

 doubtless long ago its eastern limit was much nearer to 

 the Atlantic Coast than it is now, but the bird was forced 

 westward by the advance of civilization and settlement of 

 the country, and its place occupied by the Pinnated 

 Grouse, which follows man's footsteps as he penetrates 

 into the wilderness. This process is indeed going on to- 

 day, and yearly the range of the Sharp-tailed Grouse is 

 becoming more restricted as it is hemmed in by settle- 

 ments from every side. Although it is generally re- 

 garded as exclusively a prairie bird, this is a mistaken 

 idea, as has been shown in the account of the Northern 

 and Western forms, which do in certain localities frequent 

 the woods, and there is no reason whatever to suppose 

 that in earlier times these birds were not as much at 

 home, and throve as well in forest-covered districts, as did 

 the Prairie Chicken at one time, when it was abundant on 

 large tracts of the Atlantic Coast, or as the remnant left 

 does to-day on Martha's Vineyard. 



The habits of this well-known bird do not differ from 

 those of the Western race already described, nor indeed 

 from those of the Pinnated Grouse. In the early spring, 

 in the month of April, when perhaps in many parts of 

 their habitat in the northern regions, the snow still 



remains upon the ground, the birds, both males and 



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