142 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



Oakland, Oregon. The nest was placed on the ground. The eggs are 

 creamy buff, spotted and speckled with reddish brown ; the spots are 

 small and scattered, most of them sharply defined ; the measurements 

 of the seven eggs are as follows: 1.87x1.38, 1.81x1.33, 1.78x1.33, 

 1.86x1.37, 1.88x1.36, 1.80x1.34, 1.83x1.35. 



2973. Dendragapus obscurus richardsonli (Sab.) [47 i3.] 



Richardson's Grouse. 



Hab. Northern Rocky Mountains of the United States — Central Montana northward into British 

 America. 



This race is more or less common in the various mountain ranges 

 of Montana. Its general habits do not appear to be different from those 

 of D. obscurus. The birds prefer rough and rocky ledges with only a 

 moderate growth of fir to the denser forests. Occasionally they are 

 found away from the mountains in scattered clumps of fir growing 

 on the high bluffs or growing on some of the streams. Their 

 " tooting " is a low, mufiled sort of cooing, uttered without vigor or 

 any apparent effort on the bird's part, which may be squatting on 

 some rock at the time. 



The eggs are cream color, marked with small dots of reddish- 

 brown ; average size 1.84x1.30. They are not distinguishable from 

 those of D. obscurus^ and the nesting habits are the same. 



298. Dendragapus canadensis (Linn.) [472.] 



Canada Grouse. 



Hab. Northern North America, east of Rocky Mountains, from the Northern portions of New 

 England, New York, Michigan and Minnesota to Alaska. 



Known as the Spruce or Wood Partridge, Canada, Black or Spot- 

 ted Grouse, and found in all favorable localities, especially the spruce 

 forests and swamp regions from Northern United States northward, as 

 far as the woods extend in the Arctic regions, and it has been found 

 breeding in Northern Alaska. Audubon found it breeding in the 

 vicinity of Eastport, Maine, in the interior recesses of almost impene- 

 trable woods of hackmatack or larches. He was informed that the 

 birds breed in the neighborhood about the middle of May, which is a 

 month earlier than they do in Labrador. In the nesting season the 

 males produce the same well-known and peculiar drumming as does 

 the Ruffed Grouse. The female constructs a nest of a bed of dry 

 twigs, leaves and mosses, and is usually carefully hidden, on the 

 ground, under low horizontal branches of fir trees ; it is generally 

 placed in quiet and swampy localities. 



The eggs are of a buffy or reddish brown color, irregularly 

 splashed, dotted and spotted with different tints of brown ; eight to 



