1889. ] BENDIRE on the Habits 07 the Sooty Grouse. 23 
I have met with the Sooty Grouse in all the above-mentioned 
localities in the Northwest, and have had excellent opportunities 
to observe their habits. As a game bird, considered from a 
sportsman’s point of view, it has no peer, and its flesh, in gastro- 
nomic value, is of an equal order of excellence. Although a resi- 
dent throughout the year, wherever found, the Sooty Grouse is 
seldom seen during the winter months, spending almost the entire 
time in the tops of tall, bushy fir and pine trees, which it leaves 
only for a short time about the middle of the day to procure water 
from some little mountain spring. 
Their presence in a tree selected by these birds as a roosting 
and budding place can, however, be readily detected by a close 
observer, especially when the ground, as it almost invariably is at 
that time of the year, is covered with a foot or two of snow. The 
food of the Sooty Grouse during the entire winter consists almost 
exclusively of the buds and tender tops of the pine and fir 
branches, as well as of fully grown pine needles. In picking 
these off, a certain amount is usually rejected, or dropped by ac- 
cident, and I have seen fully a bushel or more scattered about the 
base of a single tree, which I attributed at first to the work of 
squirrels, till I found out otherwise. The use of such food im- 
parts to the flesh of these birds at this season a strong, resinous 
flavor, not particularly relished by me at first. After finding such 
a tree used asa roosting place, it still remained to locate the birds, 
which generally proved to be a more difficult matter than one 
would anticipate. When they found themselves discovered they 
would usually remain perfectly motionless, and it was no easy 
matter to see a bird among the dense branches. [If sitting on a 
good-sized limb, they would crouch lengthwise on it, leaving very 
little of their body exposed to view from below, and if one 
went off some little distance the foliage of the lower limbs would 
hide the bird equally effectively. Single families only are found 
together during the winter, say from eight to twelve birds, and 
frequently but two or three. I have scarcely ever seen larger 
packs together at any time. They certainly do not pack in the 
late autumn in the manner.of Sage Fowl ( Ceztrocercus urophas- 
zanus) and Sharp-tailed Grouse (Pediocetes phastanellus colum- 
btanus), both of these species having been observed by me on 
more than one occasion in packs numbering over a hundred. 
I first met with the Sooty Grouse on Craig’s Mountain near 
