84 BULLETIN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. {Yol.Y. 



During the fall of 1877, the Wild Pigeon was taken in some numbers 

 about the head of the " Coteau des Prairies." I also observed it in July 

 of 1878, but it is only an occasional visitor to this region. 



Zenjeduea carolinensis, (L.) Bp. — Carolina Bom. 



Sexes are different in color. 



$ brownish-olive above, glossed witli blue on tlie crown and upper part of neck ; 

 below, j)urj)lisli-red, becoming tawny-wbite on the vent and under tail-coverts ; neck 

 metallic golden ; a velvety black spot on the feathers covering the ear, and others on 

 the wing-coverts and shoulders ; middle tail-feather like the back, the rest ashy-blue 

 at base, then crossed by a black bar, then white or ashy-white ; bill very slender, 

 black ; feet carmine. $ and young differ, as in the Wild Pigeon. 11-13 inches long ; 

 wing 5-6 ; tail C-7. Tail of 14 feathers. 



Arrives about May 17, and remains until September 30 ; is found in 

 considerable numbers; breeds here. 



TETEAONID^. 



Tetrad obscueus. Say. — Dusky Grouse. 



Sexes are scarcely distinguishable by color. 



$ blackish, more or less variegated with slate-gray or a peculiar slaty-black ; throat 

 and sides marked with white ; breast black ; belly slaty ; tail clouded with slate and 

 black, and Avith a broad terminal slate bar : 18-20 inches long ; wing 9-10 ; tail 7-8. 

 9 smaller, not particularly different in color, but not so uniformly dark, having ochrey 

 or reddish-brown variegations in jjlaces. Rocky and other mountains. United States 

 to the Pacific. Tail normally of 20 feathers ; no peculiar feathers on the neck ; legs 

 feathered to the toes. 



Centrocercus urophasianus, (Bp.) Sw. — Sage Cock. 



The sexes are alike in color. 



Tail very long, equalling or exceeding the wings, of twenty stiffened, graduated 

 feathers tapering to a point ; sides of lower neck with a patch of peculiar sharp scaly 

 feathers, the shafts of which terminate in bristly filaments, sometimes 3 to 4 inches 

 long in the $ ; legs full-feathered. Very large: 2 feet or more long; wing and tail 

 each about a foot. 9 much smaller; above variegated with black, gray, and tawny; 

 below, a large black abdominal patch in the adult. Sage-brush tracts of Western 

 United States. 



Of all the birds of the Grouse family, the Sage Hen is perhaps tlie 

 poorest for food ; the young can be so cooked, by parboiling and stew- 

 ing, \x\} to about the 1st of October, as to furnish a fair article of diet ; 

 but after this date the flesh is too highly flavored ^^dth the wormwood 

 to be rendered palatable by any means with which I am acquainted. 



Pedicecetes phasianellus columbianus, (Ord.) Coues. — Common 

 Sliarp-iailed Grouse. 



Sexes are alike in color. 



Neck without peculiar feathers; tail very short, of sixteen u arrow, soft, true tail- 

 feathers, and a middle pair, apparently developed coverts,, projecting an inch be- 

 yond the rest (often worn off or not fully developed, so that there is but little, if 

 any, projection of these coverts); legs fully featliered: length about 18 inches; wing 

 8-9 ; tail 5-6. The markings black, white, and especially tawny ; below, the spots 

 fewer, brown, U-shaped; throat buff. 



