404 Quail and Grouse of the Pacific Coast 



the mountains. He begins to appear far in the 

 North, becomes more plenty in Oregon, and con- 

 tinues on from there up the coast into Alaska, it 

 is said. I have found him most plenty in the 

 Cascade Range, and much more so than in the 

 Coast Range; though in the latter there is far more 

 feed in many places with absolutely no disturb- 

 ance from man. And even in the Cascades he is 

 most abundant on the eastern slope, where the 

 chain breaks away in short, steep ridges with 

 deep, rocky gulches between, well filled with a 

 tangle of vines and shrubbery. On the western 

 slope, where the range falls away so gently that 

 the last thirty miles of the road to Crater Lake 

 seem almost a level, where huckleberries and 

 other feed abound, and grass is plenty almost 

 everywhere, the bird is much more rare. Yet he 

 is here, and where the tamarack springs like the 

 spears of an ancient host^ or the giant hemlock 

 shuts out the sun, or in the windfalls where the 

 mighty trunks are piled so high as to make you 

 hesitate, this grouse often spreads the broad, 

 banded tail that so easily escapes the outer edge 

 of the circle of best-aimed shot. 



Many of the local hunters will tell you that you 

 can do nothing with this grouse because "the 

 brush is too thick." But who that knows the bird 

 would have it otherwise ? The miles one gladly 

 tramps in the eastern woods to get even a glimpse 



