TETRAOXID.E-TIIK GROUSE. 403 



Female (')S,'X]n, T'iuliili Mountains, July '>, ISdS; ]{. Ridijway). Souu'wliat similar to 

 mtile ill pnttoin, Duslcy-hliiciv abow, luucU lirokon liy narrow transverse bars ofyellowisli- 

 I)ro\vn ; tliese liroad, reu'ular, ami sliarply delined anteriorly, jiosleriorly broken and 

 mottled, ^[iddle tail-l'ealiiers nuieii mottled, obseurini,' llie ashy tip: ash beneath un- 

 liroken only on the alidomen ; the juj;nlum, sides, ete.. having' transverse bars of yellowish- 

 lirown. Winir, H.70; tail, (i.Od. 



Yoiiiiy (r)8.(i.")8, rinlah Mountains, July 5, 18(iS; R. ItidLTway). .Vbove yellowish- 

 brown, the teatheis with eouspienons slialt-streaks and deltoid terminal spots ol' white; 

 both webs with large, transverse, rou'.dish .spots of blai'k ; .seeondaries with si.x bands of 

 black and white, both broken, however, by eoarse inoltliii<,'s ; tail like the seeondaries. 

 lieneath dull whitish: juj;uhnn and sides with rounded spots of black, tho.se on oppositi^ 

 Webs not joininir. Head yellowish-white, crown spotted with black: an indistinct du.sky 

 stripe over lores and upper edgu of aurieulurs. 



H.vii. Rocky Mountain reirion of tht; I'nited States, principally .south of South Pass, 

 and Sierra Nevada, north to Orcf^on and south to San I'ranci.sco Mountain.s, New Mexico. 



Tlio " Dusky CSiouso" fiouied and described by Mr. Audubon of this spe- 

 cies, is not the bird of Say, nor based on specimens collected by Town- 

 scud. The figures were probably taken from the skins in possession of Mr. 

 Sabine, referred to by ]>onai)arte in American Oruitliolooy (Vol. Ill, 1 828, 

 ilO), which Sabine proposed to name after liichardson. Doujflas, in descriliing 

 hi.s Tdmo richanlsoni, quotes " Sabine MSS.," but does not descril)e his speci- 

 mens, and, as far as his incomplete description goes, seems to have had the 

 true T. obscnnis before him. liicliiirdson's description and figure belong to 

 tiie second species, the same with Audubon's. Wilson's figures, in Illustra- 

 tions of Zoi'tlogy, 1831 (plates xx.x, xx.xi), arc taken from specimens received 

 from Mr. Sabine, of the same species, but in diiferent and less perfect 

 jdumage than Mr. Audubon's. 



Habits. This species was first discovered and described by Say in 1820, 

 though its existence had previously been known to the fur-trappers. Its 

 food consists of various berries, and the flesh is said to be very palatable. 



Dr. Newberry i)ronounccs this (house decidedly the handsomest of all the 

 American birds of this family ; its flesh white, and fully equal to that of the 

 eastern KuH'ed Grouse or (^)uail. It is said to inlial)it the cvei-grecn forests 

 excltisively, and to be found not uncommonly in the Sierm Nevada, as well 

 as in the wooded districts of the country lying between the Sacramento Val- 

 ley and the Colund)ia. In the Cascade Mountains Dr. Newberry found it 

 iLssociated with the Ifulfcd (irouso, which it resembles in habits more tlian 

 iiny other species. Wben on the ground they lie very clo,sc, flying nj> from 

 your very feet as y jii a])proach them, and, when llusht 1, always take to a 

 tree, from which they cannot be dislodged except by shooting them. In the 

 s])ring the nude sits motionless on a Itrancli of a ])ine or ,. jpruee, and uttei-s 

 a booming call, which, by its remarkable ventrilo(|uiiil powers, seems rather 

 to mislead than to direct the sportsniiin, uidess he is experienced in shooting 

 tiiis kind of Grouse. 



Mr. George Gil)bs informed Dr. Suckley that he has mot with the Dusky 

 Grouse as far .south as the Itussian IJiver Mountains, in California, and found 



