1889. | BENDIRE, on the Habits of the Sooty Grouse. 35 
and later in the season of various species of berries found then in 
abundance everywhere, as well as the seeds of a species of wild 
sunflower, of which they seem to be very fond. It is astonishing 
how soon the young chicks learn to fly, and well, too, and how 
quickly they can hide and scatter at the first alarm note of the 
mother bird which invariably tries by various devices to draw the 
attention of the intruder to itself and away from its young. A 
comparatively small leaf, a bunch of grass, anything in fact will 
answer their purpose; you will scarcely be able to notice them 
before they are all securely hidden, and unless you should have a 
well-trained dog to assist you, the chances are that you would fail 
to find a single one, even when the immediate surroundings were 
open. After the young broods are about half grown, they spend 
the greater portion of the day, and, I believe, the night as well, 
among the shrubbery in the creek bottoms, feeding along the side 
hills in the early hours of the morning and evening. During the 
heat of the day they keep close to the water, in shady trees and 
the heavy undergrowth. They walk to their feeding grounds, 
but in going to water they usually fly down from the side hills. 
The love note of the cock has a very peculiar sound, hard 
to describe. It can be heard at almost any hour of the day 
in the spring, often in the beginning of March when there is still 
plenty of snow to be found, and it is kept up till well into the 
month of May. It is known as hooting or booming. The cocks 
when engaged in this amusement may be found perched on hori- 
zontal limbs of large pine or fir trees, with their air-sacks inflated 
to the utmost, wings drooping and the tail expanded. They pre- 
sent then a very ludicrous appearance, especially about the head. 
When at rest, these air-sacks, of a pale orange yellow color in the 
spting, are only noticeable by separating the feathers on the neck 
and upper parts of the breast, but when inflated they are the size 
of a medium orange and somewhat resemble one cut in halves. 
This call is repeated several times in rapid succession, decreasing 
in volume gradually, but can at any time be heard at quite a dis-. 
tance. It appears to be produced by the sudden forcing of a por- 
tion of the air in the sack quickly through the throat, and is 
quite misleading as to the exact locality where uttered, the birds 
being expert ventriloquists. I have frequently hunted in vain to 
locate one while so engaged where there were but a few trees in 
the vicinity ; and although I searched each one through carefully 
