FRANKLINS GROUSE. 



A TRULY Northern species, like its relative the Can- 

 ada Grouse, this bird is found but in few localities 

 in the United States, being more an inhabitant of the 

 country lying above our border. It ranges from Wash- 

 ington and Oregon, through northern Idaho to the Belt 

 Range in Montana, and north of our line, in British Co- 

 lumbia and the mountains of the Coast Range. In 

 most parts of Alaska it seems to be supplanted by the 

 Canada Grouse, which reaches the Pacific Coast in that 

 Territory; but it is Franklin's Grouse that is met with 

 in the mountains of the Coast Range in British Columbia. 

 My experience with this bird has been gained mainly 

 in the last-named mountains, where I have met with it 

 on various occasions. It inhabits similar localities to 

 those frequented by the Spruce Grouse, and is equally 

 tame and confiding, hardly taking the trouble to move 

 out of the way of man or horse — perhaps mule would be 

 a better term — and seems quite indifferent to the presence 

 of intruders in its haunts. As a game bird it aflfords no 

 sport whatever, and an entire flock can be killed before 

 It enters the head of any of its members that it would be 

 a wise thing to take wing and seek some more healthy 

 locality. I have met flocks of this species, perhaps con- 

 sisting of eight or ten individuals, dusting themselves in 

 the trails crossing the mountains, or scattered about them 

 on either side, and could easily have bagged the entire lot 



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