THE DUSKY GROUSE. 41 



f 



15. Dendragapus obscurus (Say). 



DUSKY GROUSE. 



Tetrao obscurus Say, Long's Expedition, 11, 1823, 14. 



Dendragapus obscurus Elliot, Proceedings Academy Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 

 1864, 23. 



(B 459, C 381, R 471, C 557, U 297.) 



Geographical range : Southern Eocky Mountains, from central Arizona and 

 New Mexico, north to southeastern Idaho and central Wyoming, east to southwestern 

 South Dakota, west to northeastern Nevada. 



With our present limited knowledge it is rather a difficult matter to define 

 accurately the range of the Dusky Grouse from that of the two subspecies, the 

 "Sooty" and "Richardson's" Grouse; this can only be done approximately as 

 yet. The three forms are well known and rank as the finest of game birds, and 

 next to the Sage Fowl are the largest Grouse found within the United States. 



Beginning with the northern range of the Dusky Grouse as well as I can 

 define it, this includes a small portion of southeastern Idaho, where it inter- 

 grades with B. obscurus fuliginosus, thence eastward through Wyoming and 

 western South Dakota (Black Hills), south and west through northeastern 

 Nevada (East Humboldt Mountains), Utah, central and western Colorado, as 

 well as northern and central Arizona and nearly the whole of New Mexico, 

 excepting the extreme southern portion south of the Rio Mimbres, which marks 

 the most southern limit of its range. 



It is more or less a common resident in suitable localities, i. e., the outer 

 borders of the timbered mountain regions of the States and Territories men- 

 tioned, and breeds wherever found. It is best known as the Blue Grouse, and 

 is also called Pine Grouse and Pine Hen. 



Mr. Denis Gale, of Boulder County, Colorado, a careful and reliable 

 observer, writes me as follows: " Here in Colorado the Dusky Grouse ranges 

 from an altitude of about 7,000 feet to timber line. Having once selected a 

 place to raise a brood they do not stray far from the neighborhood. Water at 

 no great distance is always kept in view. The lower gulches and side hills are 

 mostly chosen for their summer homes. During the mating season if you are 

 anywhere near the haunts of a pair you will surely hear the male and most 

 likely see him. He may interview you on foot, strutting along before you, in 

 short hurried tacks alternating from right to left, with widespread tail tipped 

 forward, head drawn in and back and wings dragging along the ground, much 

 in the style of a turkey gobbler. At other times you may hear his mimic 

 thunder overhead again and again in his flight from tree to tree. As you 

 walk along he leads, and this reconnoitering on his part, if you are not familiar 

 with it, may cause you to suppose that the trees are alive with these Grouse. 

 He then takes his stand upon a rock, stump, or log, and in the manner already 

 described distends the lower part of his neck, opens his frill of white, edged 

 with the darker feather tips, showing in its center a pink narrow line describing 



