DUSKY GROUSE. 301 



inhabit within their boundaries. But we are not aware that any of the 

 subgenus Lagopus ever enters the confines of the Union, notwithstand- 

 ing the pains we have taken to obtain information on this point from 

 the high northern districts of Maine and Michigan, in which, if any- 

 where, they are most likely to be discovered. It would however be 

 very extraordinary if these birds, which are found in the Alps of 

 Switzerland, should not also inhabit the lofty ranges of the Rocky 

 Mountains, which are known to be the resort of the various species of 

 Grouse. With the exception therefore of the well-known Tetrao ivn- 

 bellus, which belongs to Bonasia, all the others are true Grrouse, Tetra- 

 ones. 



The Spotted, and the Sharp-tailed Grouse, were long since known as 

 inhabitants of that part of America north of the United States ; but 

 the two others are newly added, not only to our Pauna, but to the 

 General System, being found for the first time in the American terri- 

 tory and not elsewhere. For the history of the discovery, the manners, 

 habitation, and a particular description of each of these, we shall refer 

 the reader to their several articles. 



The Dusky Grouse is eminently distinguished from all other known 

 species, by having the tail slightly rounded, and composed of twenty 

 broad and rounded feathers. This peculiarity of the extraordinai'y 

 number of tail-feathers, is only found besides in the Cock of the Plains, 

 in which however they are not rounded, but very slender, tapering, and 

 acute. In size and color, the Dusky Grouse may be compared to the 

 Black Grouse of Europe, so remarkable for the outward curvature of 

 the lateral feathers of the tail. 



The figure in our plate is taken from the specimen on which Say 

 established the species : this was killed on a mountain in the great 

 chain dividing the waters of the Mississippi from those which flow 

 towards the Pacific ; at a spot where, on the 10th of July 1820, the 

 exploring party of Major Long were overlooking from an elevation of 

 one or two thousand feet, a wide extent of country. A small river 

 poured down the side of the mountain through a deep and inaccessible 

 chasm, forming a continued cascade of several hundred feet. The sur- 

 face of the country appeared broken for several miles, and in many of 

 the valleys could be discerned columnar and pyramidal masses of sand- 

 stone, some entirely naked, and others bearing small tufts of bushes 

 about their summits. When the bird flew, and at the unexpected 

 moment of its death, it uttered ar cackling note somewhat resembling 

 that of the domestic fowl. 



The female Dusky Grouse is eighteen inches in length. The bill 

 measures precisely an inch, which is small in proportion ; it is blackish, 

 with the base of the under mandible whitish. The general color of the 

 plumage is blackish brown, much lighter on the neck and beneath, all 



