The Dusky Grouse 147 



THE DUSKY GROUSE 

 (Dendragapus obscurus) 



Adult male — Forehead, dull rufous; back of head, brownish black, 

 with rusty markings, or all slate color ; back of neck and upper 

 parts, a mixture of blackish brown, lighter brown, and gray, fre- 

 quently mottled; scapulars streaked with white along shafts; 

 white space on sides of neck; throat, white with black mot- 

 tlings ; sides of head, black ; lower parts, slate color, flanks 

 mottled with brown, the feathers streaked on shafts and tipped 

 with white; under tail-coverts, blackish brown, showing gray 

 barring, blackish mottling and bordering and white tips ; tail, 

 rounded, black, ending in broad gray band; primaries, dark 

 brown, outer webs and tips mottled with gray ; legs covered to 

 toes with pale brown feathers ; bill, horn color. Total length, 

 about 20 inches ; wing, about 9J ; tail, 8 ; tarsus, if. 



Adult female — Upper parts, mottled with black and buff; feathers 

 usually tipped with white; wings, grayish brown, barred and 

 mottled with buff, streaked and tipped with white; primaries, 

 dark brown; throat, buff; sides and front of neck and chest, 

 dark rusty gray with buffy white bars and tips ; rest of under 

 parts, slate, the flank-feathers with black and buff mottlings 

 and white tips ; central tail-feathers, blackish brown, with gray- 

 ish brown bars mottled with black ; rest of tail, black, with 

 slight gray mottlings, and ending in gray band. Total length, 

 about 17 inches; wing, about 8|; tail, 6. Habitat — -Rocky 

 Mountains from southern Idaho, Montana, and western South 

 Dakota to New Mexico and Arizona. 



This grand species is, with the single exception 

 of the big cock-of-the-plains, the largest and at 

 the same time one of the finest of American 

 grouse. It delights in dense, elevated forests, 

 ranging upward from about two thousand feet 

 to the timber line. Among western sportsmen 

 it is termed the " blue," or " gray," grouse, and 



