1889.] Faxon, Summer Birds of Berkshire County, Mass. 39 
numbers of eggs laid by the Sooty Grouse is about eight, and 
occasionally as many as ten are found in a set. heir ground 
color varies from a pale cream color to a creamy buff, the latter 
predominating ; in a single set before me it is a pale cinnamon. 
The eggs are more or less spotted over their entire surface with 
fine dots of chocolate or chestnut brown; these spots vary con- 
siderably in size in different sets of eggs, ranging from the size of 
a No. 3 shot, to that of mustard seed. Vhese markings are 
generally well rounded, regular in shape, and pretty evenly 
distributed over the entire egg. They never run into irregular 
and heavy blotches such as are frequently found in the eggs of the 
Canada Grouse (Denxdragapus canadensis), which approach the 
pattern found amongst the eggs of the Willow Ptarmigan (Za- 
gopus lagopus) much nearer than the former. In the eggs of 
the Sooty Grouse all these markings, as well as the overlying 
ground color, can be readily washed off when the eggs are still 
quite fresh, leaving the shell of the egg a very pale creamy white 
in reality. The largest egg in the series in the National Museum 
collection measures 2.08 X 1.35 inches; the smallest 1.78 & 1.28 
inches. Average size about 1.86 X 1.31 inches. The shape of the 
majority of these eggs is ovate ; some may be called short ovate and 
others elongate ovate. There is no perceptible difference between 
the eggs of the Sooty Grouse and those of Dexdragapus obscurus, 
the Dusky Grouse, as well as those of Dendragapus obscurus 
richardsontz, Richardson’s Grouse; their habits are also essen- 
tially the same. 
ON THE SUMMER BIRDS OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY, 
MASSACHUSETTS. 
BY WALTER FAXON. 
Durinc the summer of 1888 I spent a month (June 17 to July 16) 
in Berkshire, and made as complete lists as possible of the birds 
found in the extreme southern part of the county, and near the 
northern border, especially on the Saddle-Back or Graylock 
range of mountains. These lists, together with Mr. William 
