164 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING. 
doubt, is due to climate and habitat. The one known as 
the Oregon grouse (Bonasa sabinei) is darker than 
the uwmbellus, and the upper parts are a dark, orange- 
chestnut color, mottled with black—not with brown as 
in the Eastern species. The under tail covets are orange- 
chestnut, with indistinct bars of black, and an angular 
terminal blotch of white; and the light-brown blotches 
and edgings of the uwmbellus are replaced by very dark 
brown or black. Some specimens have dark gray tails; 
and others differ in plumage, being dark-brown in one 
section of the country, and pale-gray in another. The 
sabine variety is rather erratic in habit, partially migra- 
tory, and a generous feeder, its food consisting of berries, 
buds, fruit, insects, and grain. 
The allied grouse (Bonasa umbellus var. wmbelloides) 
differs only slightly in coloration from the typical spe- 
cies—not enough perhaps to class it as a variety, as its 
hue varies so much in different places that even a skillful 
naturalist would find it difficult to distinguish the two 
apart. The principal distinctions between them are, 
that the variety wmbelloides is somewhat grayer; that the 
neck tufts are sometimes glossy black; and that the 
ground color of the tail is cinerous. This variety is 
found in the Rocky Mountains and in the forest stretch- 
ing north and westward from it, as 1t has been shot 
throughout the region lying between California and 
Alaska, and in Manitoba and the country west of it, as 
far as the Pacific Ocean. 
The grouse of the Pacific Coast commence drumming 
earlier in the season than those of the Atlantic, owing to 
the mildness of the climate. Their tooting may some- 
times be heard as early as January, in Oregon and Wash- 
ington Territory, and they are so persistent at it in Febru- 
ary that they frequently keep it up all night. They are 
also more prolific than their Eastern congeners, and much 
tamer, owing to their immunity from danger, for the popu- 
