[ 108 ] BIRDSOFOREGON 



going its separate way when alarmed, the Ruffed Grouse usually making 

 for the aspen and lodgepole thickets, and their larger cousins seeking the 

 shelter of the higher trees. They remain on the high ridges until the 

 available food supply is exhausted and then take to the timber to feed on 

 buds and needles till spring. 



Richardson's Grouse, when feeding on the ground, frequently leave a 

 single bird on guard in the branches of a nearby tree. The whirr of the 

 lookout's wings as he takes alarm seems to serve as a warning signal to 

 the birds below. This species when feeding on the currants or other berries, 

 almost invariably stands on the ground, reaching up to get the fruit or 

 picking up fallen berries. In the same patches, the Ruffed Grouse likewise 

 may be found on the ground but often are perched in the bushes competing 

 with the robins and Varied Thrushes for the fast-vanishing crop. 



Sooty Grouse: 



Dendragapus fuliginosus fuliginosus (Ridg way) 



DESCRIPTION Adult male: Upper parts sooty blackish, finely mottled with gray and 

 brown, buffy brown on wings; hinder scapulars usually with distinct shaft streaks 

 and terminal spots of white; tail blackish with a narrow bluish gray band; under 

 parts slaty, marked with white on side of neck and flanks. Adult female: Similar to 

 male, but decidedly smaller, and upper parts, chest, and sides barred and mottled 

 with dark brown and buffy. Young: upper parts yellowish brown, with irregular 

 barring or mottling, and black spots and white or buff shaft streaks widening at tip; 

 under parts dull whitish, chest and sides spotted with black. (Adapted from Bailey.) 

 Downy young: "In the downy chick the head and under parts vary from 'cream color' 

 to 'ivory yellow'; the crown is mottled with black and a little 'hazel,' and the 

 auriculars are spotted with black; the upper parts are variegated with 'hazel,' 'chest- 

 nut,' dusky, and pale buff. The wings begin to grow soon after the chick is hatched ; 

 in a chick 3 inches long they already reach beyond the tail. These first wing feathers 



FIGURE 4. Distribution of three forms of grouse in Oregon: i, Richardson's Grouse (Dendra- 

 gapus obscurus richardsonf)\ ~L, Sooty Grouse (D. fuliginosus fuliginosus^); 3, Sierra Grouse 

 (JD. f. sierrae"). 



