SHARP-TAILED GROUSE 269 



the sportsman's standpoint, the arrangement is wholly 

 unsatisfactory when the birds behave so; nor when they 

 are tame is it much more attractive ; for, unless a supply 

 of meat be the only point, dropping chickens from the 

 trees is no more exciting than robbing a hen-roost. 

 Killed under these circumstances, the food of the grouse 

 is readily ascertained ; in the dead of winter it consists 

 chiefly of the berries of the cedar, and buds of the pop- 

 lar or cottonwood and willow, still closely sealed, await- 

 ing the coming of spring. I have taken from one 

 crop a double handful of such food, almost as dry as 

 when swallowed. This diet does not improve the 

 quality of the flesh ; a chicken at this season is quite a 

 different thing from one killed earlier in the season. 

 The rating of the grouse as an article of food neces- 

 sarily varies, not only with circumstances, but accord- 

 ing to individual preferences. I, myself, do not esteem 

 it very highly. A tender young grouse, early in the 

 season, is not to be despised, but all such specially 

 flavored meat is likely to soon become distasteful, espe- 

 cially if, on one or two occasions, a person has been 

 forced upon a surfeit of it. Confined to grouse for a 

 few days, most persons, I should judge, would find 

 relief in mess-pork. 



"The mode of flight of this species is not peculiar; 

 it rises with a startling whirr from the ground, till it 

 attains a certain elevation its straight, steady course, 

 performed with great velocity by alternate sailing and 

 flapping, are points it shares with its relatives. The 

 wing-beats are rapid and energetic, giving it an im- 



