SHARP-TAILED GROUSE, ETC. 181 



Such instances are, however, very rare. They are usually 

 off with the first sign of clanger, but they will not go so 

 far that they can not easily return to the same perch that 

 they left. The pot-hunter can now secure all the birds 

 he can carry by driving them away from the yard, and 

 then concealing himself in a thicket. The birds will 

 return at dusk, if not before, and all night long the 

 hunter may blaze away among the trees, and thus secure 

 a large bag. After dark the grouse will scarcely change 

 position, only move from limb to limb as they are dis- 

 turbed by flashes from below, or by the fall of some slain 

 companion from a higher branch. This murderous 

 method is worthy of an Indian, but not of any sports- 

 man. 



In common with Pedioccetes phasianellus campestris 

 of the prairies, the sharp- tail of the mountains burrows 

 in the snow, and can travel quite rapidly beneath its 

 surface when it imagines itself in danger from an enemy. 

 In the same way, if the thicket does not afford sufficient 

 protection from a storm, it buries itself until the bliz- 

 zard is over. Once in awhile, a sudden freeze forms such 

 a crust over the soft snow that the birds are imprisoned; 

 they will then make long tunnels, in hope of escape, 

 though sometimes they perish in the attempt. 



The prairie sharp-tail is found in our northern tier of 

 States and Territories, between Lake Superior and the 

 eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. It may be found 

 in Western Nebraska and in Eastern Wyoming and Colo- 

 rado, as far south as the New Mexico line; but as the 

 prairie chicken increases with the advent of the farmer, 

 so does the sharp-tail disappear; and as the well- watered 

 valleys where it thrives are the first lands to be home- 

 steaded by the settler, it is now a rarity, excepting in 

 Eastern Montana and Dakota. The rusty or ochraceous 

 ground-color of the upper parts is the most apparent 



