Bob Whites, Grouse, etc. 



and back of neck more finely barred than the back; no neck 

 tufts; head of male slightly crested, and his neck has con- 

 cealed reddish distensible skin ; space in front of and below 

 eye buff, like the throat; breast has V-shaped brownish 

 marks; sides irregularly barred or spotted with blackish 

 or buff ; underneath, including wing linings, white. Tail 

 barred with black and buff, the central feathers longest, but 

 shorter in female than in male; legs full feathered to the first 

 joint of toes; bill horn color. Female smaller. 



Range — Plains and prairies east of the Rocky Mountains, north to 

 Manitoba, east to Wisconsin and Illinois, and south to New 

 Mexico. 



Season — Permanent resident, or partially migratory in cold 

 weather. 



Three variations of one species of sharp-tailed grouse greatly 

 extend its range until in one form or another it has come to be 

 among the best known of our western game birds ; the Columbian, 

 the true sharp-tail, and the prairie varieties not being generally 

 separated by sportsmen either in the United States or Canada, 

 as they are by the systematists. 



A most hilarious " dance" that precedes the nesting season, 

 as in the case of the pinnated grouse, begins early in spring, at 

 the gray of dawn, when the sharp-tails meet on a hillock that 

 very likely has been a favorite with their ancestors, too. They 

 behave like rational fowls until suddenly a male lowers his head, 

 distends the sacs on either side of his neck that look like oranges 

 fastened there, ruffles up his feathers to appear twice his natural 

 size, erects and spreads his tail, droops his wings, and, rushing 

 across the arena, "takes the floor." Now the ball is opened in- 

 deed. Out rush other dancers, stamping the ground hard as 

 their feet beat a quick tattoo; the air escaping from their bright 

 sacs making a "sort of bubbling crow," quite different from the 

 deep organ tone of the pinnated grouse ; the rustling of the 

 vibrating wings and tail furnishing extra music. Now all join 

 in ; at first there is dignified decorum, but the fun grows fast 

 and furious, then still faster an'd still more furious ; the crazy 

 birds twist and twirl, stamp and leap over each other in their 

 frenzy, every moment making more noise, until their energy 

 finally spent, they calm down into sane creatures again. They 

 move quietly about over the well worn space (a "chicken's 

 stamping ground," measuring from fifty to one hundred feet 



282 



