656 North American Grouse. 



continent, each with a slight variation, — the northern one having a 

 black instead of a brown-colored back. If this is so, the writer has 

 never seen the Arctic variety. The beautifully marked one with 

 which we are familiar is common in Kansas, Nebraska, and Dakota; 

 and on the Platte River we have seen it rise, with its whirring flight 

 and lighter and ashier hue, from among a pack of pinnated grouse. 

 Its flesh is lighter in color than that of the prairie-fowl, and more 

 delicate in flavor. 



There is a curious habit of this bird; but whether connected with 

 its mating instincts, or only with its love for social amusement, it is 

 difficult to answer. It has a little ball-room all of its own, and, like 

 that of the country girls of Italy, it is under the open sky. A circle 

 of ground on the prairie is adopted, and by beating of wings and 

 tramping it is cleared of grass for twenty feet around ; and there, 

 morning and evening, the party assembles and pirouettes and court- 

 esies as in the olden time. By twos and fours they advance, and 

 bow their heads, and drop their wings ; then recede and advance 

 again, and turn on their toes, swelling their feathers and clucking 

 with gentle hilarity. Many cocks join in the dance, but there is no 

 attempt at unseemly battle. It is gentleness all, and the hall is sur- 

 rounded by rustling grass and golden asters. The hunters call such 

 a spot, as they pass it, " chickens' stamping-ground." We have 

 already noted the same habit in the prairie-fowl. The only differ- 

 ence between the two birds in this amusement seems to be that the 

 prairie-fowl runs over a larger area of ground, usually selecting some 

 bare knoll covered with scant, short grass. 



The sharp-tail grouse is feathered not only to the toes, but to 

 the first joint of the toes, as is the Rocky Mountain grouse ; while 

 the ruffed grouse is slightly feathered to the toes, and the pinnated 

 grouse is scarcely feathered to the toes. The true ptarmigan wears 

 abundant feathers down to his toe-nails. 



As the miner rides over the bare plains that form the approaches 

 to the Rocky Mountains, with the vivid sunshine reflected from bar- 

 ren earth and red hills, with the glare of noon blinking the eye, and 

 the dust of the dry sage-bush, pulverized by the horse's tread, smart- 

 ing the nostril, there suddenly flits out from the bush a large bird, 

 looking at first glance like a bustard. It stands as high as a turkey- 



