156 FRANK SCHLEY'S PARTRIDGE AND PHEASANT SHOOTING. 



RICHARDSON'S DUSKY GROUSE. 



Canace obscurus, Var, richardsoni. DOUGLAS. 



In regard to distinctive peculiarities in 

 habits and manners, of this form of Grouse, if it- 

 possesses any, our information is quite limited. In 

 its external markings and in size it appears to be 

 readily distinguishable from the T. obscurus, either specifi- 

 cally or as a well-marked interior race. 



Mr. J. K. Lord refers to it in his account of the obscurus, 

 where he states that between the Cascades and the Rocky 

 Mountains the Dusky Grouse appears to be replaced by a 

 well-marked variety, if a not distinct species. In size it is 

 a trifle smaller, but the great mark of distinction is the 

 entire absence of the white band at the end of the tail. 

 In their habits, in their periods of arrival and departure, 

 or rather of appearance and disappearance, the two varie- 

 ties are pronounced to be, in every respect, similar. In re- 

 gard to their unexplained disappearance and reappearance, 

 Mr. Lord is of the opinion that these birds do not migrate, 

 but only retire into the thickest trees, and, living on the 

 buds, pass the winter thus sheltered in the tree-tops. 



Captain Blakiston thinks that this species is the form 

 that inhabits the interior of British North America, and 

 refers the figure of the male in Richardson's Fauna to the 

 richardsoni the Black-tailed and smaller species. In his 

 wanderings he met with these birds only in or near the 

 pine woods on the slopes of the Rocky Mountains ; but, 

 having killed only females, he could not feel certain of the 

 species. These Grouse range towards the Pacific as far as 

 the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and British Columbia, 

 and along the Rocky Mountains from the head- waters of 



