DUSKY GROUSE. 151 



He found it common in most of the forests, especially in 

 the dense spruce woods near the coast. It was rarely seen 

 on the open prairie. In the dense woods it was exceed- 

 ingly difficult to detect. During May, near the coast, and 

 till August, on the mountains, the low tooting of this 

 Grouse was heard everywhere, sounding something like 

 the cooing of a Pigeon, but in the same deep tone as the 

 drumming of the Ruffed Grouse. Dr. Cooper also mentions 

 its remarkable powers of ventriloquism, so that while the 

 bird may be sitting on a tree directly over your head the 

 sound seems to come from places quite remote. 



Dr. Woodhouse states that the Dusky Grouse is found 

 among the mountains about Santa Fe, in New Mexico. 



This Grouse was first met with by Mr. Ridgway on the 

 Sierra Nevada, in the vicinity of Carson City, where it 

 was seen in the possession of Indians who had been hunt- 

 ing on the mountains. It was found on the East Hum- 

 boldt Mountains, in the month of September, and at that 

 time occurred in small flocks, consisting chiefly of young 

 birds, and probably composed of single families. After- 

 wards, in the summer of 1869, it was found in considerable 

 abundance in Parley's Park, a few miles from Salt Lake 

 City. It there chiefly inhabited the copses of scrub-oaks 

 along the lower border of coniferous woods. In July it 

 was found in the Uintah Mountains in very great abund- 

 ance, and for a while formed the chief subsistence of the 

 party. It was there known as the Mountain Grouse. 

 Nothing very distinctive was ascertained in regard to its 

 habits, except it was said to resemble very closely, in man- 

 ners, the Ruffed Grouse. Its flesh was excellent eating. 



Dr. Suckley, in a series of papers on the Grouse of the 

 United States, which were read before the New York Ly- 

 ceum in I860, states that this species probably extend their 

 range to quite a distance south of latitude 40 along the 

 line of the Rocky Mountains, in New Mexico. This writer 

 claimed to have met with them near Pike's Peak, in the 

 Cheyenne Pass, and in 1853 he found them in great num- 

 bers in Lewis and Clarke's Pass, west of Port Benton. He 



