104 LIFE HISTORIES OP NOilTU AMERICAN BIRDS. 



'a number of small angular hard seeds which answer perfectly the purpose of 

 the gravel. 



"To illusti-ate the importance of this shrub in this regard, I append a table 

 of observations on the contents of crops and gizzards of Grouse killed during 

 the various months as indicated: 



January — Rose-hips, browse, and Esquisetum tops. 



February — Rose- hips and browse. 



March — Rose-liijas and browse. 



April — Rose-hips and browse of birch and willow. 



May — Rose-hiias and sand-flowers {Anemone patens). 



June — Rose-hips, grass, grasshoppers, and Proconia costalis. 



July — Rose-hips, seeds of star-grass, and P. costalis. 



August — Rose-hips, grass, strawberries, and P. costalis. . 



September — Rose-hips, grass, berries, and P. costalis. 



October — Rose-hips, grass, and various berries. 



November— Jiose-lii-ps. birch and willow browse, and berries of arbutus. 



Deceinber — Rose-hips, juniper berries, and browse. 



"This is of course a mere list of staples, as in reality nothing of the nature 

 of grain, fruit, leaves, or insects comes amiss to this nearly omnivorous bird, but 

 it illustrates the importance of the rose-hips, which are always obtainable, as 

 they grow everywhere, and do not fall when ripe. In the course of my expe- 

 rience I have examined some hundreds of gizzards of the Prairie Chicken, and 

 do not recollect ever finding one devoid of the stony seeds of the wild rose. 



"After the disappearance of the snow, and the coming of warmer weather, 

 the chickens meet every morning at gray dawn in companies of from six to 

 twenty, on some selected hillock or knoll, and indulge in what is called 'the 

 dance.' This performance I have often watched, and it presents the most 

 amusing spectacle I have yet witnessed in bird life. At ^rst the birds may 

 be seen standing about in ordinary attitudes, when suddenly one of them 

 lowers its head, spreads out its wings nearly horizontally and its tail perpen- 

 dicularly, distends its air sacs and erects its feathers, then rushes across the 

 'floor,' taking the shortest of steps, but stamping its feet so hard and rapidh', 

 that the sound is like that of a kettledrum; at the same time it utters a sort 

 of bubbling crow, which seems to come from the air sacs, beats the air with 

 its wings and vibrates its tail, so that it produces a loud, rustling noise, and 

 thus conti'ives at once to make as extraordinary a spectacle of itself as pos- 

 s^'ble. As soon as one commences, all join in, rattling-, stamping, drumming, 

 'rowing, and dancing together furiously; louder and louder the noise, faster 

 and faster the dance becomes, imtil at last as they madly whirl about, the 

 birds leap over each other in their excitement. After a brief spell the energy 

 of the dancers begins to abate, and shortly afterward they cease, and stand 

 or move al)out very quietly, until they are again started by one of their num- 

 ber leading off. 



"The wliole performance reminds one so strongly of a 'Cree dance' as to 

 suggest the possibility of its being the prototype of the Indian exercise. The 



