THE PRAIRIE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. 103 



have never seen any of these birds in summer, tliey are abundant in winter. 

 At this season they live in quaking aspen thickets along the mountains, and 

 there I have seen hundreds of them roosting on top of a big barn which 

 stands just at edge of a grove of quaking aspen timber. It was always easy 

 in the morning, just after sunrise, to step out of the house, and, with a .22- 

 caliber rifle, shoot off the heads of as many of these birds as were needed for 

 eating for the next two or three days. 



"I have only one note on these birds which seems particularly worth 

 mentioning, and of this I spoke in my report to Col. William Ludlow, on the 

 birds noticed during a reconnoissance to the Black Hills of Dakota, in 1874, 

 which was published by the Engineer Bureau of the War Department. The 

 Sharp-tailed Grroiise has a cry which is unlike that of any other Grouse with 

 which I am familiar, although something very similar has been observed in 

 the case, I think, of one of the Ptarmigans. On the plains of Dakota, in 

 1874, ha^dng scattered a brood of Sharp-tailed Grouse, consisting of a mother 

 and a dozen well-grown young, I sat down to wait for them to get together. 

 The mother had flown to the top of a hill not far off", where she sat on the 

 ground in plain sight, and after a few moments began to call to the yomig, 

 which immediately answered her from the different points Avhere they had 

 taken refuge. The call of the mother and the young was a g'uttural, raucous 

 croak, which quite closely resembled the croaking of a raven at a little dis- 

 tance. I plainly saw the old bird utter its note, and subsequently followed 

 up the calls uttered by more than one of the young ones, until I started them 

 and killed one or two as they flew. I do not know that this cry of the Sharp- 

 tailed Grouse has been noted by any other observer." 



Mr. Ernest E. Thompson has also kindly placed some of his notes on this 

 race, made in southern Manitoba, at my disposal, and I make the following 

 extracts from them: "The Sharp-tailed Grouse, while eminently a prairie bird 

 in the summer time, usually retires to the woods and sandhills on the approach 

 of winter, but in the spring, before the snow is gone, they again perform a par- 

 tial migration and scatter over the prairies, where alone they are to be found 

 during the summer. They are very shy at all times, but during the winter 

 the comparatively heedless individuals have been so thoroughly weeded out 

 by their numerous enemies, that it requires no slight amount of stalking to 

 get within the range of a flock in the springtime. 



"The advent of the Grouse on the still snow-covered plains might prove 

 premature, but that they find a good friend in the wild prairie rose (Rosa 

 hlanda), which is abundant everywhere; and the ruddy hips, unlike most fruits, 

 do not fall when ripe, but continue to hang on the stiff stems until they are 

 dislodged by the coming of the next season's crop. On the 'Big Plain' stones 

 of any kind are unknown, and in nearly all parts of Manitoba gravel is unat- 

 tainable during the winter, so that the Sharp-tails and other birds, that require 

 these aids to digestion, would be at a loss, were it not that the friendly rose 

 also supplies this need; for the hips, besides being sweet and imtritious, contain 



