150 FRANK SCHLEY'S PARTRIDGE AND PHEASANT SHOOTING. 



DUSKY GROUSE. 



Canace obscurus, Var, obscurus. SAY. 



JABITS. This species was first discovered and de- 

 scribed by Say in 1820, though its existence had 

 previously been known to the fur trappers. Its food 

 consists of various berries, and the flesh is said to be 

 very palatable. 



Dr. Newberry pronouuces this Grouse decidedly the 

 handsomest of all the American birds of this family; its 

 flesh white, and fully equal to that of the eastern Buffed 

 Grouse or Quail. It is said to inhabit the evergreen forests 

 exclusively, and to be found not uncommonly in the Sierra 

 Nevada, as well as in the wooded districts of the country 

 lying between - the Sacramento valley and the Columbia, 

 In the Cascade Mountains Dr. Newberry found it associated 

 with the Ruffed Grouse, which it resembles in habits more 

 than any other species. When on the ground they lie 

 very close, flying up from your very feet as you approach 

 them, and, when flushed, always take to a tree, from which 

 they cannot be dislodged except by shooting them. In the 

 Spring the male sits motionless on a branch of a pine or a 

 spruce, and utters a booming call, which, by its remark- 

 able ventriloquial powers, seems rather to mislead than to 

 direct the sportsman, unless he is experienced in shooting 

 this kind of Grouse. 



Mr. George Gibbs informed Dr. Suckley that he has met 

 with the Dusky Grouse as far South as the Russian River 

 Mountains, in California, and found it also common on the 

 east side of the Cascade, as far north as the 49th parallel. 

 Dr. Cooper's account of these birds is substantially simi- 

 lar to the account given by Dr. Suckley of the fuliginosus.. 



