PRAIRIE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. 133 



that alarms them, or taking wing when yet a long dis- 

 tance off. The flight is also much more protracted at 

 this time, the packs frequently keeping on until lost to 

 view. 



At this period they are in the habit of perching much 

 in trees, frequently on the tops of houses or any out- 

 lying buildings. I have often seen a tree nearly full of 

 Grouse, so thickly were they assembled on the branches, 

 some sitting close to the limbs looking more like great 

 bunches without any particular shape at all, while others 

 would stand upright in a stiff, constrained attitude, with 

 the neck drawn out to its fullest extent and held motion- 

 less, and the legs showing to the full extent of the thighs. 

 Sometimes they will remain in such situations even 

 though shot at more than once, and occasionally a num- 

 ber may be killed, if the lowest in the tree is selected, 

 so that the falling body may not alarm the living birds 

 and cause them to take flight. They appear much mag- 

 nified when on the bran :hes, especially if their forms be 

 sharply outlined against the sky. If much hunted their 

 behavior in the trees changes, and as £oon as anyone is 

 seen approaching, the birds are at once on the qui z'ive, 

 and, motionless, regard intently the object of their fears. 

 Soon a warning kliick is heard, every head is raised and 

 neck outstretched, and then with a loud kliick one bird 

 takes wing, to be followed immediately by all the rest, ut- 

 tering many kluck-klucks as they go. Usually they alight 

 at no great distance, but their watchfulness is not less- 

 ened, and if pursued, the same tactics are repeated. The 

 food of this Grouse consists of insects, leaves, berries, 

 and, w^herever it grows, the hips of the wild rose, whose 

 hard seeds, answering the purpose of gravel in helping to 

 grind the food, are greedily eaten. It also feeds on grain 

 when readily accessible, for as a rule these birds do not 



