186 UPLAND SHOOTING. 



on a pine-tree, getting both food and moisture from the 

 lance-like leaves. When disturbed, they do not rise, but 

 drop almost to the ground, and then glide away in silence, 

 their flight at this time being wonderfully swift. They 

 do not deserve the name "fool-hen," which comes from 

 the refusal of the female to desert her chicks and from 

 the unwillingness of the moulting male to vacate his 

 perch. 



The sooty grouse, locally known as the blue grouse, 

 is found throughout the mountain region north and west 

 of the falls of the Yellowstone River. It is the common 

 grouse of the coast ranges between the Columbia River 

 and Alaska. This bird does not love to travel. If he 

 leaves an open valley on the approach of winter, he does 

 not, as many imagine, desert the country; he simply 

 seeks the top of some tall fir or pine tree, where, for 

 months, his diet consists entirely of buds, tender twigs, 

 and needles. Although the sooty grouse lives at a high 

 altitude and in a cold country, it is partial to sunlight 

 and warmth, and, in almost every case, will be found on 

 the hill-side having a southern exposure, and sheltered 

 from piercing blasts of the north wind. Neither does it 

 prefer the seclusion of a forest and the gloom of heavy 

 timber. It requires a clearing, or else scattered pine or 

 tamarack trees at the edge of the dense timber. This 

 bird does not u pack" in winter, and I doubt if, as a 

 rule, families remain together during cold weather. A 

 pair will be found, or a female with a late brood, but the 

 sooty grouse is by noineans inclined to be social. They 

 succeed in concealing themselves more effectively than 

 do most of their congeners. Instinct teaches them to 

 perch amid the most dense foliage, and if they are discov- 

 ered seated upon a naked branch, they crouch lengthwise 

 upon it, and so succeed in concealing themselves from 

 aught but the closest observation. I have never found 



