144 The Grouse Family 



terminal band, black, with bar of gray above ; under tail-coverts, 

 orange, barred with black and V-shaped white mark at tip; 

 feathers of thigh, brownish. Total length, about 17J inches; 

 wings, j\ ; tail, 6\. Habitat — Coast range of mountains, from 

 northern British Columbia to California. 



As will be noticed in the measurements, 

 Sabine's, or the Oregon grouse, is a trifle larger 

 than its better-known relation of the East. To 

 give honor where 'tis due, this bird is also the 

 handsomest of all ruffed grouse, the rich, reddish 

 tone of its plumage being warmer and more pleas- 

 ing than the grayish cast of the other. I have 

 shot this bird at a dozen or more points in British 

 Columbia, and found its habits to be the same as 

 those of its relatives of seldom-disturbed sections 

 of Maine and the Canadian provinces. The food 

 consists of insects, seeds, berries, leaves, and buds. 

 It is, as a rule, excellent eating, but occasionally 

 the flesh has an unpleasant flavor owing to some 

 special diet. The nest, eggs, and young resemble 

 those of B. umbellus. Owing to the nature of the 

 cover of the west coast, Sabine's grouse seldom 

 affords much sport, the majority of the birds 

 which reach the table being trapped. 



THE CANADIAN RUFFED GROUSE 

 {B. u. togata) 



While our highest scientific authorities have 

 agreed to consider this bird a subspecies of the 



