

96 



(7^;j/^ BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



exhausted in the globes, he would resume for a brief 

 space his normal shape, although the skin on the neck 

 would seem flabby and wrinkled, when he would again 

 proceed to inflate himself out of shape. The courting 

 season over these sacs shrink entirely away, and the 

 bare place is covered over by the feathers of the neck. 



The time of love-making, period of nesting, style, and 

 position of the nest, and number and color of the eggs, 

 are almost precisely the same as has been described in 

 the article on the Dusky Grouse. In fact there could 

 not well be any difference of consequence between birds 

 so closely related as are the above-named species and the 

 present race, for practically they are the same bird; the 

 probable greater amount of moisture in the districts in- 

 habited by the Sooty Grouse causes its plumage to 

 assume a darker, more somber hue; a fact known to 

 occur in the coloring of all animals which dwell in coun- 

 tries visited by a great amount of rainfall. A belief is 

 entertained among some that these Grouse remain in a 

 somnolent state during the winter, regaining their 

 activity in the spring; not like the old tale of the swal- 

 lows, that they buried themselves in the mud, but that 

 they went to sleep somev.^here in the tree tops — hiber- 

 nated in fact among the obscure depths of the firs and 

 spruce. No doubt they do pass much of the winter amid 

 the thick foliage of these trees, but the birds are far from 

 being asleep, though for hours during the severe weather 

 they may remain immovable. At such times the snow 

 is usually very deep, and all food obtainable from the 

 ground is hidden from sight, and the Grouse subsist on 

 the buds and leaves of the trees amid which they have 

 taken refuge, and have very little occasion to come from 

 out their chosen resorts. Even the water they may need 

 can be obtained from the snow lying on the branches. 



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