THE DUSKY- OR BLUE-GROUSE 9^ 



Much that has been said about the king of game- 

 birds applies to the dusky- or blue-grouse. I once said 

 he was the " King of the West." In the spring he hoots 

 and struts like a turkey-cock. In the early autumn 

 he lies fairly well to the dogs, fully as well as the 

 ruffed-grouse. His flesh is white, or nearly so, and 

 quite equal to that of his Eastern rival. 



After observing the blue-grouse some years ago I 

 could easily imagine how tame the ruffed-grouse were 

 before forming man's acquaintance, and I did not 

 wonder at the local name of " fool-hen," which is 

 applied to the Western birds, and which has found its 

 way into the legislation of Montana, where it is now 

 unlawful to kill more than twenty "fool-hens " in a day. 



When I first went to the Rocky Mountains there 

 were no restraints of any kind upon the shooting, 

 except at one point where there was an uncertainty 

 as to what the Utes were doing. Blue-grouse flew 

 up to the lowest branches of the trees and stood 

 looking at me in the friendliest kind of way, and 

 I of course had no desire to shoot at such con- 

 fiding marks. A few were shot with the rifle (shoot- 

 ing off the head) now and then to add variety to our 

 fare. I sometimes took a shot at them on the wing in 

 the woodland glades. The big-game hunters often 

 had serious and sinister objections to the use of the 

 gun, since it disturbed the larger game. We always 

 had an abundance of meat — elk tenderloins, elk hearts, 

 venison of both the black- and the white-tail deer, and 

 wild-fowl and trout of large size, so that little attention 

 was paid to the blue-grouse. 



The fool-hens are fool-hens no longer in many places. 



