NORTHERN OCEAN 377 



This species is called by some of the Indians bordering on 

 Hudson's Bay, Pus-pus-kee, and by others Pus-pus-cue. 



Sharp-tailed Grouse,^ or as they are called in Hudson's Sharp-tailed 

 Bay, Pheasant. Those birds are always found in the Southern 

 parts of the Bay, are very plentiful in the interior parts of the 

 country, and in some Winters a few of them are shot at York 

 Fort, but never reach so far North as Churchill. In colour 

 they are not very unlike that of the English hen pheasant ; 

 but the tail is short and pointed, like that of the common 

 duck ; and there is no perceiv[409]able difference in plumage 

 between the male and female. When full-grown, and in good 

 condition, they frequently weigh two pounds, and though the 

 flesh is dark, yet it is juicy, and always esteemed good eating, 

 particularly when larded and roasted. In Summer they feed 

 on berries, and in Winter on the tops of the dwarf birch, and 

 the buds of the poplar. In the Fall they are tolerably tame, 

 but in the severe cold more shy ; frequently perch on the tops 

 of the highest poplars, out of moderate gun-shot, and will not 

 suffer a near approach. They sometimes, when disturbed in 

 this situation, dive into the snow ; but the sportsman is 

 equally baulked in his expectations, as they force their way 

 so fast under it as to raise flight many yards distant from the 

 place they entered, and very frequently in a different direction 

 to that from which the sportsman expects.* They, like the 

 other species of grouse, make their nests on the ground, and 

 lay from ten to thirteen eggs. Like the Ruffed Grouse, they 

 are not to be tamed, as many trials have been made at 

 York Fort, but without success ; for though they never made 

 their escape, yet they always died, probably for the want of 

 proper food ; for the hens that hatched them were equally 

 fond of them, as they could possibly have been had they 



[' Pedicecetes phasiancUus (Linn.)- Hearne's remarks on its range in this 

 region are well founded, and agree with what is known of its present dis- 

 tribution.] 



* This I assert from my own experience when at Cumberland House. 



