TETRAO OBSCURUS, DUSKY GROUSE. 399 



bird inhabits the evergreen forests exclusively, and is found not un- 

 commonly in the Sierra Nevada of California, and in the wooded dis- 

 tricts of the country lying between the Sacramento Valley and the 

 Columbia. lu the Cascade Mountains we found it associated with the 

 Eufi'ed Grouse, which it resembles in habit more than any other spe- 

 cies. When on the ground they lie very close, flying up from your feet 

 as you approach them, and when iiushed always take to a treej while 

 sitting on a tree, you may fire as many times as is necessary to hit the 

 bird before you can dislodge it. In the spring the male, seated motion- 

 less on a branch of pine or fir where it issues from the trunk, makes a 

 booming call, which, by a remarkable ventriloquial power, serves rather 

 to mislead than direct the sportsman, and, unless experienced in shoot- 

 ing this kind of Grouse, he will be likely to spend much time, with 

 nothing to show for it, in a vain search for the bird." 



The habits of this species in Colorado may be elucidated by an extract 

 from Mr. Trippe's manuscripts : 



"The 'Gray Grouse,' as this species is universally called, is a rather 

 common bird throughout the mountains, from the foot-hills up to timber- 

 line, and, during summer, wanders at times above the woods as high as 

 the summit of the rtrnge. Excepting for a brief period in August and 

 September, it rarely approaches the vicinity of clearings, frequenting 

 the dense pine forests, and showing a preference for the tops of rocky 

 and inaccessible mountains. In its nature, in short, it is the exact 

 counterpart of the Buffed Grouse, having the same roving, restless dis- 

 position; living upon the same diet of buds and berries; frequenting 

 the same rugged, craggy mountain haunts; and, like that bird, is more 

 or less solitary in its habits, and constantly moving from place to place 

 on foot. Its food consists principally of the leaves and berries of vari- 

 ous species of Uricacew, which abound in all its haunts. It is also very 

 fond of grasshoppers and all kinds of insects, and, while the snow lies 

 deep upon the ground, lives for the most part upon the buds and tender 

 leaves of the pines. When the grain is cut iu the valleys, the Grouse 

 are frequently to be found, in the stubble-fields and adjacent coverts, in 

 small flocks of from three or four up to eight or ten. They are then so 

 tame as to be easily approached and killed, but later in the season be- 

 come somewhat wilder, though never very shy. They never gather iu 

 large flocks, like the Pinnated and Sharp-tailed Grouse, more than a 

 single family being rarely found together. The broods separate as soon 

 as they are well grown, and, from the middle or close of autumn until 

 the succeeding pairing season, the Gray Grouse is usually found alone. 

 On being suddenly startled, this bird takes wing with great rapidity, 

 sometimes uttering a loud cackling note, very much like that of the 

 Prairie Hen on similar occasions, frequently alighting on the lower limb 

 of a tree after flying a little way, and watching the intruder with out- 

 stretched neck. Sometimes they will fly up to the top of a tall pine 

 and remain hidden in the thick toliage for a long time; nor will they 

 move or betray their position, although sticks and stones are thrown 

 into the tree, or even a shot fired. Late in summer many of them ascend 

 to the upper woods to feed upon the multitudes of grasshoppers that 

 swarm there in August and September, in the ijursuit of which they 

 wander above timber-line, and may sometimes be met in great numbers 

 among the copses of willows and juniper that lie above the forests. 



"Theiiightof the Gray Grouse is rapid and powerful. Its flesh is 

 white and tender, resembling that of the Ruffed Grouse. In all re- 

 spects it seems to till the same place in the mountain fauna of Colorado 

 that is occupied by the latter bird among the mountains of New En- 



