656 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 
always been a source of intense gratification to me if I could by any 
means whatever so surprise one of these stolid sons of the forest as to 
induce him to elevate his eyebrows, be it ever so little. On this par- 
ticular. occasion the position was mine. I simply shrugged my shoul- 
ders. giving them to understand that it was an extremely simple mat- 
ter, and left them to make what they could out of it. 
19159 
Canace obscura. 
Allof the birds of this species taken in the Big Horn Mountains were, to 
the best of my recollection, the form recognized as C. obscura richardsoni 
I do not remember an exception. This is not the case, however, when 
we come to the Laramie foot-hills about the country and less elevated 
peaks lying to the southward and westward of Fort Fetterman. It was 
in this vicinity and near the top of one of the highest hills to the east- 
ward of Casper Mountain that the writer, in the depth of winter, with 
the thermometer many degrees below zero and the snow knee-deep, 
found small bevies of the type bird C. obscura, and succeeded in taking 
several specimens. They seemed to occur more frequently in those hills 
where the immense herds of elk resorted, and perhaps this was due to 
the fact that these animals bared the ground of snow in many places, 
and thus exposed winter berries and other foods that might not other- 
wise have been added to the bill of fare of these Grouse. Centrocercus 
urophasianus oceurs throughout the Northwest, frequenting, almost with 
out exception, the arid plains wherever the sage-brush thrives, the buds 
and leaves of which form its principal food. 
Thus far this genus has contained but the one species just alluded to, 
and although this Grouse occurs over 4n immense area of country, there 
is not an ornithologist that we are aware of, that has ever detected 
‘sufficient differences in specimens taken in widely-separated districts 
that would guarantee the establishment of varieties. The author for 
