244 



The Outer's Book 



ing. Finally, there is the Sierra grouse, 

 found from Fort Klamath, Oregon, south 

 through the mountains of California to 

 Mount Pinos near Tejon. This subspecies is 

 the D. o. sierra and was first differentiated 

 by Mr. Chapman. 



A brief table is probably the best way to 

 present the distinctive plumage differences 

 characterizing these remaining subspecies of 

 dark grouse, thus: 



Sooty grouse: Colors darker than in richard- 

 soni. Tail-bar less broad than in true 

 obscurus. On the upper parts, the male is 

 blackish, finely speckled with slate-gray 

 and reddish-brown. Under parts, dark 

 slate-color or plumbeous. White mark- 

 ings on shoulders and flanks very indis- 

 tinct. Female exhibits still greater differ- 

 ences, being known at once by her elegant 

 brown markings of chestnut and rusty 

 shades. The eggs of all these grouse are 

 practically indistinguishable. 



Richardson's grouse: Closely resembles in 

 all particulars the true dusky grouse. 

 However, the tail is generally longer as 

 well as squarer, having the individual 

 feathers broader, and the terminal slate- 

 colored bar very much reduced and often 

 entirely absent. The throat is blacker, 

 and the entire bird much darker in its 

 plumage. (Fig. 1, which Audubon gave 

 us as the "Dusky Grouse," resembles, in 



some respects, Richardson's grouse, espe- 

 cially in the tail). 



Sierra grouse: As stated above, this sub- 

 species was first described by Mr. Chap- 

 man and in the following words: "Most 

 nearly related to Dendragapus obscurus but 

 the nuchal region oftener browner and 

 usually vermiculated with black, the 

 whole dorsal region less black and more 

 heavily vermiculated with brown and gray; 

 terminal tail-band narrower and more 

 speckled with blackish; the median tail- 

 feathers more heavily marked with gray 

 or brownish; the scapulars and tertials 

 with the terminal white wedge less devel- 

 oped or entirely wanting; the basally 

 white neck-tufts practically absent; the 

 throat averaging duskier and the feathers 

 of the sides, flanks and under tail-coverts 

 with much less white." 



This bird differs from the sooty grouse 

 "in much paler coloration above, in the 

 heavier vermiculation of the entire upper 

 surface, practical absence of neck-tufts, 

 white throat and paler underparts." (Bull. 

 Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. XX. Apr. 25, 1904, 159). 



It is said that the hens of the sooty, the 

 dusky and the Sierra grouse, in their breeding 

 plumage, are hardly to be distinguished 

 apart. Some few differences, however, are 

 to be seen in the tails, the "band" being 

 wider in the dusky, and the central feathers 

 being less definitely barred in the Sierra form. 



L 



Fig. 4 Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus). Male, at rest (on the right) and drumming. Reproducti 

 photographs from life by Professor C. F. Hodge. , 



