TKTUAON 1 D.K - T 111: (J UDUSE. 417 



it iniiy 1)C takoii by ,slipi)in,i,' ii iiooso, I'ustenod tn the end of ii stick, over its 

 head. When distiirljod, it Hies lieavily a short distance, and then ahyiits 

 again amonj; the interior liraneiiea ol" a tree, Kicliardson invariably I'onnd 

 its crop filled with the buds of the sjjruce-trees in tlie winter, auil at that 

 time its flesli was very dai'k and had a strong resinous taste. In districts 

 where the Finns InniLfiinut grows it is said to prefei' tlie buds of that tree. 

 In the summer it feeds on berries, which render its flesh more jjalatable. 



Captain IMakiston states tliat he lias found tliis .species as far we.st as Fort 

 Carlton, and Mr. Hoss has traced it northward on the Mackenzie to the 

 Arctic coast. 



Mr. Audubon mot with it in iNIaine, in the vicinity of Kastport, where 

 they were only to be met with in the tiiick and tangled forests of spruce and 

 hackmatack. They were breeding in the inner reces.ses of almost impene- 

 tralile woods of hackmatack or larches. He was informed that they breed 

 in that neighborhood about the middle of May, a full month sooner than 

 they do in Laltrador. In their love-season the males are .said to exhibit 

 many of the singular manners also noticealile in tlie other members of this 

 family. They strut before the female on tlie ground, something in the man- 

 ner of the common domestic Turkey-cock, occasionally rising in a spiral 

 mfiiiiier above her in the air ; at the same time, both when on the ground and 

 in the air, they beat their wings violently against their body, thereby pro- 

 ducing a peculiar drumming sound, which is said to be much clearer than 

 the well known drumming of the Kufl'ed Grouse. These sounds cau be 

 heard at a considerable distance from the phice where they are made. 



The female constructs a nest of a Ited of dry twigs, leaves, and mosses, 

 which is usually carefully concealed, on the ground and under low horizontal 

 branches of fir-trees. The number of eggs is said to vary from eight to 

 eighteen in number. It is imagined by the common people that where 

 more than ten eggs are found in the same nest they are the ])roduct of two 

 females, who aid each other in their charge. The, eggs are described by 

 Audubon as of a deep fawn-color, irregularly splashed with different tints 

 of brown. They lia\e but a single brood in a season, and the young follow 

 the mother as soon as they leave the shell. 



As soon as incubation commences, the males desert the females and keep 

 in small flocks by themselves, removing to different woods, where they 

 usually liecome much more shy and \\'ary than at any other season of the 

 year. 



In their movements on the ground these birds are said to resemble our 

 common (^)uail, rather than the Kufled Grouse. They do not jerk their tails 

 in the manner of the latter bird, as they walk, nor are they known to burrow 

 in the snow ; Init when they are pursueil they invariably take refuge in trees, 

 from which they cannot be readily made to Hy. When driven from one 

 place of refuge to another, they accompany their flight with a few ducks, and 

 those sounds they repeat when they alight. Wlien a flock thus alights, it 



VOL. III. 53 



