DUSKY GROUSE. 



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 91 



and elevating the tail, and drawing the head toward the 

 back, he steps gingerly along, overcome for the moment 

 by the extent and force of his amatory feelings. He has 

 another method also of declaring his love, which he em- 

 ploys when perched in the midst of some thick fir or 

 spruce. At such times he inflates a small sac, covered 

 by a bare skin on either side of the neck, until it is half as 

 large as an orange and something like it in color, sur- 

 rounded by a fringe of white feathers; and suddenly 

 exhausting the air, emits a low, booming sound having 

 a strange ventriloquial power, and which can be heard for 

 a sir ularly long distance. If met with on the ground 

 tiiis Grouse immediately takes to a tree if any are in the 

 vicinity, and remains motionless on its perch, watching 

 kecnlv every movement of its pursuer. It is very diffi- 

 cult to discover it when it is so en garde, aind if, after 

 much peering into the somber depths of the foliage 

 and many contortions of the neck, one catches sight 

 of the bird, it is aware of the fact at once, and plunges 

 down the mountain side with a roar of wings and swift- 

 ness of flight that almost always carries him away in 

 safety. The speed at which the bird travels and the 

 brief momentary glimpses that are afforded of his 

 passing form, give but a slight chance for a successful 

 shot. 



At times when there are any grain fields near its 

 resorts, the Dusky Grouse will enter the stubble to pick 

 up the scattered kernels, and then is often quite tame 

 and unsuspicious. I do not consider it a very wild or 

 shy bird, at least I have never found it so, but this 

 may be because I have mostly seen it in retired locali- 

 ties, in the depths of the forest, or on high mountains, 

 where the bird had probably been seldom molested by 

 man. When suddenly started it flies off with great 



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