38 BENDIRE, ox the Habits of the Sooty Grouse. [January 
direction. ‘Rock’ was fairly trembling with excitement, but kept to 
his point. Jumping up quickly, I looked to the right and rear, 
thinking that perhaps a rattlesnake might be coiled up in the 
grass, and saw at once the cause of my dog’s strange behavior. 
It was only a poor Sooty Grouse sitting within three feet of me 
on her nest containing two chicks and seven eggs on the point of 
hatching. It was as touching a sight as I had ever seen, the poor 
bird, although nearly scared to death, with every feather pressed 
close to her body, and fairly within reach of the dog, still persisted 
in trying to hide her treasures ; and her tender brown eyes looked 
entreatingly on us rude intruders, and if eyes can speak, hers cer- 
tainly pleaded most eloquently for mercy. She let me almost 
touch her before she fluttered off the nest, feigning lameness, 
and disappeared in the neighboring undergrowth. Count- 
ing the eggs, and examining one of the young chicks which 
apparently had only left the shell a few minutes before, I at once 
vacated this vicinity and took up a position some fifty yards in an 
opposite direction from what the bird had taken, to watch further 
proceedings. The grass was so short that it did not hide the bird 
which, after perhaps ten minutes’ waiting, came slowly creeping 
and crouching towards the nest and covered the eggs again. I 
did not disturb her further, and hope that, although her selection of 
a nesting site so thoroughly exposed was not judicious, she 
succeeded in rearing her brood in safety. None of the eggs inthe 
nest touched each other; they were all about half covered or 
imbedded in the material out of which the nest was made—dry 
grass, pine and fir needles, and a few of the bird’s feathers pre- 
sumably plucked out by herself. 
Incubation lasts about eighteen days. Females predominate in 
numbers. The weight of full grown cocks varies from two and 
a half to three pounds; I have never obtained one that weighed 
more. Hens weigh from one and three-quarters to two and a half 
pounds ; the latter weight, however, is rare. Many of the young 
broods are fully grown by August 15. They afford excellent 
sport, lie well to a dog, often letting you almost step on them 
before taking wing, and are strong and swift flyers. Their ordinary 
note very much resembles the cackling of the domestic hen. The 
Indian name of the Sooty Grouse on the Northwest coast is tyhee 
cullaw-cullaw, chief bird. 
As stated before, according to my own observation, the usual 
