SHARP-TAILED GROUSE, ETC. 185 



would advise you to keep ears attent and eyes open. 

 Down in the tall grass, what is the clucking that we hear? 

 Steal softly up, and see the hen with her second brood. 

 Ah! she spies us, but does not appear alarmed on that 

 account. The little ones crouch down, and eye us sus- 

 piciously, while the old lady continues her clucking 

 and scratching as composedly as though we were miles 

 away. Approaching nearer, she ruffles her feathers, and 

 acts like a barn-yard fowl under similar circumstances. 

 Can they be domesticated? Yes; the dusky grouse 

 breeds in confinement, and could the hen be constantly 

 surrounded by her brood, she would never think of flying 

 away. The young birds are frequently captured and 

 tamed by the cow-boys, but when the cattle move down 

 from the mountains in the autumn, the young birds are 

 generally fried, or are turned loose to return to their old 

 haunts. Here, in a grassy tussock, is a nest containing 

 seven eggs, creamy, and sprinkled with a chocolate brown. 

 At least fifteen eggs would have been found had we 

 located the nest in the early spring. 



Early in April is heard the ventriloquistic love-call of 

 the amorous male. It is made by the gular air-sacs-, and 

 is of a softer tone than the boom of the pinnated grouse. 

 It is preceded by a prolonged whir. At this time the 

 cock presents a striking appearance. His air-sacs are a 

 bright orange, plumage metallic in lustre, and he spreads 

 a gorgeous, fan-like tail upon some lofty bough, preferring 

 a pedestal to the vulgar ground. To these charms, rather 

 than to ball-room accomplishments, does he trust, and, 

 while not quarrelsome, he will, in wooing season, fight 

 longer and harder than will the sharp-tail. After the 

 broods break up, they never form a winter pack, as do 

 the sharp-tails. Their habits of feeding keep them soli- 

 tary, and in the depth of winter they are much more 

 wary than at any other time. They will remain for days 



