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SHARP-TAILED GROUS. 
TETRAO PHASIANELLUS, LINN. 
PLATE CCCLXXXII. Mate anp FEMALE. 
Tuis is another species of our birds with the habits of which I am 
entirely unacquainted. Dr Ricuarpson’s account of it is as follows :— 
“« The northern limits of the range of the Sharp-tailed Grous is Great 
Slave Lake, in the sixty-first parallel ; and its most southern recorded 
station is in latitude 41°, on the Missouri. It abounds on the outskirts 
of the Saskatchewan plains, and is found throughout the woody dis- 
tricts of the Fur Countries, haunting open glades or low thickets on the 
borders of lakes, particularly in the neighbourhood of the trading paths, 
where the forests have been partially cleared. In winter it perches 
generally on trees, in summer is much on the ground ; in both seasons 
assembling in coveys of from ten to sixteen. Early in spring, a family 
of these birds select a level spot, whereon they meet every morning, 
and run round in a circle of fifteen or twenty feet in diameter, so that 
the grass is worn quite bare. When any one approaches the circle, 
the birds squat close to the ground, but in a short time stretch out their 
necks to survey the intruder ; and, if they are not scared by a nearer 
advance, soon resume their circular course, some running to the right, 
others to the left, meeting and crossing each other. These “ Partridge 
dances” last for a month or more, or until the hens begin to hatch. 
When the Sharp-tailed Grous are put up, they rise with the usual whir- 
ring noise, and alight again at the distance of a few hundred yards, 
either on the ground, or on the upper branches of a tree. Before the 
cock quits his perch, he utters repeatedly the ery of cuck, cuck, cuck. 
In winter they roost in the snow like the Willow Grous, and they can 
make their way through the loose wreaths with ease. They feed on 
the buds and sprouts of the Betula glandulosa, of various willows, and 
of the aspen and larch ; and in autumn on berries. Mr Hurcuins says 
that the hen lays thirteen white eggs with coloured spots early in June ; 
the nest being placed on the ground and formed of grass, lined with 
feathers.” 
Dr TowNsEND informs me that while crossing the north branch of 
