DUSKY GROUSE IIQ 



with a jerky movement of his head utter his boom, 

 or hoot, boom-boom-boom. As he grew more and 

 more demonstrative in his actions, his modest mate 

 flew up to an overhanging limb to escape his familiari- 

 ties, and we drove away, leaving him still strutting on 

 the ground underneath the tree where his mate sat 

 perched." 



Another writer refers to the sound uttered at this 

 season by the male dusky grouse as "growling" or 

 "groaning," and notes, as have many others, the pe- 

 culiarity that when near it often seems quite distant, 

 and when distant it sometimes seems near, appearing to 

 come from every direction but the true one. 



The female usually makes her nest in the open at the 

 foot of the mountains, quite a little way from 

 the timber, perhaps under some little clump of brush at 

 the foot of a steep bluff, partly clad with pines, or 

 perhaps among the aspens in some mountain valley. 

 The eggs vary in number from seven to fifteen, and 

 perhaps are oftenest nearer the smaller number. They 

 are buffy in color and are usually more or less thickly 

 spotted with fine dots of reddish brown or even choco- 

 late. These dots and spots are usually quite distinct 

 and seldom or never run into blotches and cloudings, 

 as is usually the case with the eggs of the ptarmigan. 



After the nest is constructed and the eggs are laid, 

 the male leaves his mate and by slow stages betakes 

 himself to the moun.tain-t.ops, where, in midsummer, 

 old cocks and barren hens are found in the extreme 

 edge of the timber, and very often on the alpine mea- 



