IX 



THE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE 



FOR many reasons I regard the sharp-tail as the 

 best American grouse. Its flight is similar to that 

 of the prairie-grouse, if anything more swift and well 

 sustained, its gray plumage, effectively marked with 

 white and black, is more attractive, the pointed tail 

 gives it a trim appearance, its flesh is equal to the best, 

 and it lies w^ell to the dogs. The country where it 

 dwells is better suited to the use of dogs than the prairie, 

 by reason of the cooler temperature and the abundance 

 of water in the many lakes and ponds. 



The range of the sharp-tailed grouse and the two 

 sub-species (which so closely resemble the species as to 

 be of no importance to sportsmen) is from Northern 

 Illinois and Wisconsin to the central portions of Alaska. 

 The prairie sharp-tailed grouse is found as far south as 

 New Mexico. The Columbian sharp-tail is found on 

 both sides of the Rocky Mountains, eastward to Mon- 

 tana, Dakota, and Wyoming, southward to Utah, 

 Northern Nevada, and Northeastern California. These 

 birds are most abundant in the Dakotas, Montana, on 

 the plains of Eastern Oregon and Washington, and in 

 the British possessions from Manitoba west. When I 

 first went to shoot in Dakota — there was but one Dakota 

 then — 1 found the sharp-tailed grouse very abundant, 

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