DUSKY GROUSE 117 



The adult female is much darker than the typical 

 dusky grouse, and often has the upper parts distinctly 

 reddish, instead of being merely gray or buffy. 



Richardson's grouse, found in the northern Rocky 

 Mountains, has the tail without the terminal band of 

 gray; otherwise it is much like the dusky grouse, but 

 usually the tail feathers are broader and the tail more 

 even. There are certain places in the Rocky Moun- 

 tains for example, in northwestern Montana where 

 the dusky grouse and Richardson's grouse intergrade, 

 and often it is impossible to say to which form a speci- 

 men belongs. In this latter region the female is often 

 gray, black mottled, with little or no tinge of buff. 



The sierra grouse, with a narrower tail band than 

 the typical form, is found in the region from Fort 

 Klamath, Oregon, south, through the mountains of 

 California, to Mount Pifios, near old Fort Tejon. 



The dusky grouse, although not at all known by east- 

 ern sportsmen, is yet easily the finest of our American 

 species. It is exceeded in size only by the sage grouse, 

 but in beauty, in edible qualities and in the sport it 

 furnishes it far excels that species. 



The dusky grouse is found in all the mountain re- 

 gions of the farther West, from Alaska south as far 

 as the White Mountains of Arizona. Naturalists sepa- 

 rate it into four forms, as given above; but in habits, 

 and in the qualities which interest the gunner, all are 

 much alike. It is not a migratory bird, but remains 

 essentially in one locality throughout the year, al- 

 though, like many mountain-dwelling birds and mam- 



