DUSKY GROUSE 12$ 



"Near our camp by the foot of Pecos Baldy, Mr. 

 Bailey discovered a winter roosting tree of the grouse. 

 The tree was on a sheltered part of the wooded slope 

 and was so densely branched that after a prolonged 

 rain the ground beneath was perfectly dry. The earth 

 was strewn with winter droppings, composed entirely 

 of the leaves of conifers. Conifer needles had also 

 been eaten by three of the grouse that were taken . . . 

 in July and August, but at this season the birds were 

 living principally on such fresh food as strawberries, 

 bearberries (Arctostaphylos wua-ursi), sheperdia ber- 

 ries, flowers of the lupine and paint brush, seeds, green 

 leaves, grasshoppers, caterpillars, ants and other in- 

 sects. But one crop contained twenty-seven strawber- 

 ries, twenty-eight bearberries and twelve sheperdia 

 berries, besides flowers, leaves and insects, while the 

 accompanying gizzard was filled with seeds, green 

 leaves and insects.* 5 



In some sections of the West the dusky grouse are 

 reported to pack in the autumn, forming very large 

 flocks, but I have never seen anything of the kind. 

 Usually, in my experience, only the members of a 

 single brood, ranging m numbers from eight to twenty, 

 are found together. Sometimes, however, in summer, 

 on the high peaks, flocks of a dozen old males are 

 found associated together. 



It is said that in Colorado and parts of Montana, 

 where grain is grown adjacent to the mountains or the 

 timber occupied by the dusky grouse, the birds are 

 frequently found feeding on the stubble fields. If this 



