SHARP-TAILED GROUSE 269 
the sportsman’s standpoint, the arrangement is wholly 
unsatisfactory when the birds behave so; nor when they 
are tame is it much more attractive; for, unless a supply 
of meat be the only point, dropping chickens from the 
trees is no more exciting than robbing a hen-roost. 
Killed under these circumstances, the food of the grouse 
is readily ascertained ; in the dead of winter it consists 
chiefly of the berries of the cedar, and buds of the pop- 
lar or cottonwood and willow, still closely sealed, await- 
ing the coming of spring. I have taken from one 
crop a double handful of such food, almost as dry as 
when swallowed. This diet does not improve the 
quality of the flesh; a chicken at this season is quite a 
different thing from one killed earlier in the season. 
The rating of the grouse as an article of food neces- 
sarily varies, not only with circumstances, but accord- 
ing to individual preferences. I, myself, do not esteem 
it very highly. A tender young grouse, early in the 
season, is not to be despised, but all such specially 
flavored meat is likely to soon become distasteful, espe- 
cially if, on one or two occasions, a person has been 
forced upon a surfeit of it. Confined to grouse for a 
few days, most persons, I should judge, would find 
relief in mess-pork. 
“The mode of flight of this species is not peculiar ; 
it rises with a startling whirr from the ground, till it 
attains a certain elevation—its straight, steady course, 
performed with great velocity by alternate sailing and 
flapping, are points it shares with its relatives. The 
wing-beats are rapid and energetic, giving it an im- 
