The Sharp-Tailed Grouse in Manitoba 



By JOHN WOODCOCK, Bethany, Mass. 



With a photograph by the author 



THE Sharp-tailed Grouse, or Prairie Chicken, as it is usually called in 

 Manitoba, is one of the commonest of our winter birds. While driving 

 along by the snow-covered stubble fields, broken at frequent intervals 

 by small bluffs of willow or poplar, one can usually count on seeing several 

 flocks of these interesting and handsome birds, either busily scratching for 

 grain around the straw-stacks, or feeding upon the fruit of the rose or snow- 

 berry bushes. Although they are among the wildest of birds during the latter 

 part of the shooting season, in the winter, one may, if he is driving, pass within 

 thirty or forty yards of a flock without disturbing a single individual. 



In a winter like the past, with only a few inches of snow, the Grouse can 

 find plenty of food in the fields without coming near the buildings. But in a 

 severe season like the winter of 1910-11, when the snow lay deep on straw- 

 stacks and stubble-fields, they come quite close to the farm buildings, and I 

 have seen them within a few feet of our back window. 



We have an old tumble-down log building near our stables, that had once 

 been used as a shelter for young calves during the summer. Just outside the 

 window of this old place, I scattered a few handfuls of grain and chaff. The 

 Grouse soon found this food and came regularly to it, but they arrived about 

 sunrise and stayed for only a short time ; consequently I could not get a photo- 

 graph of them, as the light was not strong enough for snapshots. 



On February 19, 191 2, I went to set my camera up about sunrise; but the 

 birds were there before me, and flew away as I approached. I set the camera 

 in position, and attached a long thread to the shutter, in case they returned 

 while I was away at dinner. Nothing had come to the food by 2 p.m., and I 

 was beginning to think that it was not of much use waiting. I had just thrown 

 my glove on the ground and was focusing the camera on it, just to pass the 

 time away, when, to my surprise, the reflection of a Grouse appeared on the 

 ground-glass. It was running rapidly toward the camera, and, by the time I 

 had loaded a plate into the camera, several Grouse were picking up the grain. 

 The first exposure was rather a failure, as ~£t of a second was too slow to catch 

 the swiftly moving heads of the feeding birds. With all speed I slipped in 

 another plate, and set the shutter for another attempt; but, peeping through 

 the sacking with which the camera was concealed, I saw that the Grouse 

 had heard the slight noise, and, with heads raised, were searching for the 

 cause. So I made the exposure immediately, and when the shutter clicked 

 again they all walked slowly away, jerking their stiff, pointed tails nervously 

 up and down. That was my last chance for that day, and indeed for the season, 

 as a thaw had set in, which uncovered some of the stubble-fields giving the 

 birds a fresh supply of food. 



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