OREGON DUSKY GROUSE. 153 



OEEGON DUSKY GEOUSE. 



Canace obscurus, Var, fuliginosus RIDGYTAY. 



JABITS. This race is the more northern and north- 

 western coast form of the Dusky Grouse, and is 

 found from the Columbia Eiver and British Colum- 

 bia to Alaska. According to Dr. Suckley, it is gen- 

 erally known as the Blue Grouse in Oregon, and it is also 

 called the Pine Grouse, as well as the Dusky Grouse. He 

 met with it for the first time when his party had reached 

 the main chain of the Eocky Mountains, and where they 

 found it exceedingly abundant, as afterwards in the Blue 

 Mountains of Oregon, the Cascade Mountains, and in all 

 the timbered country between the Coast Eange and the 

 Pacific Ocean. About the middle of November these birds 

 are said to entirely disappear, and it is very rare to meet 

 with even a single individual between that period and the 

 20th of the following March. As to their whereabouts 

 during this period there is a great difference of opinion 

 among the settlers. Some maintain that they are migra- 

 tory and retire to the South. Others are of the opinion 

 that they retire to the tops of the highest evergreen trees, 

 where they pass the cold season in a state of partial torpor 

 among the thickest foliage of the branches. As these 

 birds are known to subsist on the leaves of the coniferce, 

 and can always obtain sufficient water from the snow and 

 rain-drops to supply their wants, Dr. Suckley was inclined 

 to favor the latter explanation of their absence. He saw 

 one of these birds on the ground during a fall of snow, in 

 January, near the Nisqually Eiver, in Washington Terri- 

 tory, and he was informed that a hunter near Olympia, 

 whose eyesight was remarkably excellent, was able, any 

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