GRAY RUFFED GROUSE. 



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ANOTHER subspecies of the Ruffed Grouse is the 

 present bird, which dwells in the central Rocky 

 Mountain region, from the valley of the Yukon in 

 Alaska, through British Columbia, and Idaho, Montana, 

 and western Dakota south to Colorado. It possesses 

 a plumage of a gray color, and is somewhat smaller 

 than its relatives. Like the other Ruffed Grouse it is 

 not migratory, and where it is found there it resides and 

 breeds. It is fond of resorting to dense thickets and 

 undergrowth that flourishes so luxuriantly along the 

 mountain sides, and on the banks of streams, ascending 

 at times to the loftiest heights, having been met with 

 at 10,000 feet of elevation. Its habits are similar to those 

 of its relatives, and the nest and eggs resemble those of 

 the species already described. 



It differs from the other Grouse of the Eastern portion 

 of the United States and Canada by the uniform gray of 

 tl:'^ ground-color of its plumage and by its gray tail. 

 When writing my monograph of the Grouse I thought 

 that a good character consisted in the fact that the termi- 

 nal black bar on the tail did not include the middle 

 feathers, but th presence of more abundant material 

 than was then o. ainable proves that this supposition 

 was not well founded. At best it is only a race of very 

 questionable value. This bird was found abundant in 

 the vicinity of Behring Straits at the head of Norton 

 Sound wherever the woods occurred. It is common at 



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