CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 21 7 



Several heard booming about Cumshewa inlet, Queen Charlotte 

 islands, B.C., early in June, 1899. A pair of adult birds was taken 

 at an altitude of about 3,000 feet in the mountains at the head of 

 Cumshewa inlet, June 23rd. (Osgood.) We were told that grouse 

 were common on the heights above Skagway, Alaska, but although 

 we often found droppings we saw no birds. (Bishop.) 



2976. Richardson Grouse. 



Dendragapus obscurus richardsonii (Dougl.) Ridgw. 1885. 



This large grouse inhabits the Rocky mountains up to lat. 64°. 

 (Richardson.) North to Fort Halkett on the Mackenzie river; only 

 in the mountains. (Ross.) Seen along the trail from Jasper 

 House, Rocky mountains, to Camp river, B.C. ; also at timber line 

 on the mountains in the summer of 1898; common on the hills 

 around Midway, B.C., not so plentiful at Sidley; a few seen on the 

 hills at Osoyoos lake; common between the Columbia river and 

 Cascade, B.C. (Spreadborough.) East of the Coast range, includ- 

 ing the Rocky mountain districts. An abundant resident. (Fan- 

 nin.) This species was found to be a common resident of the 

 interior, and takes the place of the sooty grouse. (Streator.) Com- 

 mon in the partially wooded country in Lac la Hache valley, Chil- 

 cotin, arid at Soda creek, and again on the summits of the moun- 

 tains of the Cariboo range, B.C., but not in the intervening heavily 

 wooded country. All secured showed faint traces of a terminal 

 bar. (Brooks.) 



This species is general throughout the mountains from the east 

 side of the Coast range to the eastern foothills of the Rocky moun- 

 tains in Alberta. It is found in company with Franklin grouse at 

 from four to seven thousand feet altitude, and in British Columbia 

 even lower. 



Breeding Notes. — One nest of this species was taken on the 

 slope of the mountain near Revelstoke, B.C. It was placed on the 

 ground close to a partly rotten log, and the nest was made chiefly 

 of dead wood. There were six eggs perfectly fresh on May 22nd, 

 1890, when the nest was discovered, and from the constant calling 

 and drumming both this and the gray ruffed grouse must have been 

 puite plentiful. 



