SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. HI 



sixteen. Early in spring, a family of these birds select a level spot, 

 whereon they meet every morning, and run round in a circle of fifteen or 

 twenty feet in diameter, so that the grass is worn quite bare. When any 

 one approaches the circle, the birds squat close to the ground, but in a short 

 time stretch out their necks to survey the intruder; and, if they are not 

 scared by a nearer advance, soon resume their circular course, some running 

 to the right, others to the left, meeting and crossing each other. These 

 "Partridge dances" last for a month or more, or until the hens begin to 

 hatch. When the Sharp-tailed Grouse are put up, they rise with the usual 

 whirring noise, and alight again at the distance of a few hundred yards, 

 either on the ground or on the upper branches of a tree. Before the cock 

 quits his perch, he utters repeatedly the cry of click, cucle, cuck. In winter 

 they roost in the snow like the Willow Grouse, and they can make their 

 way through the loose wreaths with ease. They feed on the buds and 

 sprouts of the Betula glandulosa, of various willows, and of the aspen and 

 larch; and in autumn on berries. Mr. Hutchins says that the hen lays 

 thirteen white eggs, with coloured spots, early in June; the nest being placed 

 on the ground and formed of grass, lined with feathers." 



Mr. Townsend informs me that while crossing the north branch of the 

 Platte (Lorimie's Fork), he found this species breeding, and that as an article 

 of food it proved to be a very well-flavoured and plump bird, considerably 

 superior to any of the other large species that occur in the United States. 



Tetrao Phasianellus, Bonap. Araer. Orn., vol. iii. p. 37. 



T,etrao Phasianellus, Bonap. Syn., p. 127. 



Tetrao (Centrocerus) Phasianellus, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Swains, and Rich. F. 



Bor. Amer. vol. ii. p. 361. 

 Sharp-tailed Grouse, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 669. 

 Sharp-tailed Grouse, Tetrao Phasianellus, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iv. p. 569. 



Male, 17|, 23. 



Missouri, lat. 41°, to Slave Lake, lat. 61°. Rocky Mountains. Abun- 

 dant on the Saskatchewan Plains. Accidental in the northern parts of 

 Illinois. Resident. 



Adult Male. 



Bill short, strong, as broad as high; upper mandible with the dorsal line 

 arcuato-declinate, the ridge narrow at the base on account of the great 

 extent of the nasal sinus, which is feathered, the sides convex toward the 

 end, the edges overlapping and thin, the tip declinate and blunt, but thin- 

 edged; lower mandible with the angle of moderate length and width, the 

 dorsal line ascending and convex, the edges sharp and inclinate, the tip 

 obtuse. 



