COUES ON BIRDS OF DAKOTA AND MONTANA. 



629 



specimens were secured in August, 1874. It was not seen in the foot- 

 hills, even in apparently eligible situations, nor until we were fairly in 

 the mountains, among the timber and dense windfalls, where it was 

 rather common in the vicinity of our camp at Chief Mountain Lake. 



List of sjyeclmens. 



TETRAO OBSCUKUS EICHARDSONI, {Dougl.) Coues. 

 ElCHAEDSON'S DUSKY GEOUSE. 



The remarks made under head of the last species apply equally well 

 to the present, which was found in the same situation. It appeared to 

 be rather the more numerous of the two. A large number of individuals 

 were shot for sport or for food by various members of the party. 



There is no doubt that a species of Ptarmigan, Lagopus leucurus, in- 

 habits the higher elevations of the Kocky Mountains in this latitude. 



While at Pembina, I was assured of the existence of a species of 

 " Wood Grouse", different from the Spruce Partridge, or "Black Grouse", 

 in the mountains of the same name. This statement, I presume, refers 

 to Bonasa umhellus. No Ruffed Grouse of any variety were seen in the 

 Rocky Mountains, but probably only through default of observation, 

 as the B. iimbelloides is an inhabitant of this region. 



List of specimens. 



CBNTROCERCUS UROPnASIANUS, {BjJ.) Sw. 



SAaE-cocK; Cock of the Plains. 



The entire absence of this species from the Red River region is one 

 of the characteristic points of distinction between this watershed and 

 that of the Missouri. No Sage-cocks were seen during the first season, 

 not even within the Missouri Coteau, in the vicinity of Fort Stevenson. 

 Though the climatological conditions are the same as those of some re- 

 gions where they abound, yet we miss the peculiar aspect of the sage- 

 brush country to which they cling so pertinaciously. Upon leaving Fort 



