604 AVES—DUSKY GROUSE. 
continucd noise, as might have been heard 1 mile off. When snow cones, 
they become half domesticated, visit the barns, and farmhouses, and mix 
with the poultry. Great numbers are then taken in traps. Their nests are 
built on the ground, formed with little art, and few materials. 
The pinnated grouse is nineteen inches long, and, when in good order, 
weighs three pounds and a half. There are small wings on each side of the 
neck, whose upper parts are mottled transversely with black, brown, and 
white. Over the eye isa semicircular comb of rich orange. The breast 
and belly are white, marked with brown. 
THE DUSKY GROUSE! 
In size and color, may be compared with the black grouse of Europe. A 
specimen was killed by an exploring party under Major Long, in 1820, ona 
mountain of the chain which divides the Mississippi from the waters which 
flow toward the Pacific. When the bird flew, it uttered a cackling note, 
somewhat like that of the domestic fowl. The general color of the plumage 
in the female is blackish brown; that of the male is entirely blaek. 
THE SHARP-TAILED: GROUS E8 
Was first met with by the lamented Governor Lewis, on the upper waters 
of tne Missouri. It is said to be the inhabitant of the great plains of the 
Columbia. The expedition under Major Long brought a specimen, now in 
the museum at Philadelphia. This bird is never seen in any of the Atlantic 
1 Tetrao obscurus, Say. 2 Tetrao phasianellus, Lin. 
