Bendire.] 138 [March 21, 



from four to six, sunning themselves on high rocky points, crouching 

 close to the rocks if anything approaches to disturb them. In the 

 early part of the fall they rarely fly into trees when flushed, but later 

 in the season they do so almost invariably. It is said that where a 

 number are found in one tree, by shooting always the lowest first the 

 rest will remain, and that they can all be killed; but I never got 

 more than two shots at birds in one tree. They sit close, and usually 

 lengthways on a limb, like Night Hawks, as long as they think they 

 have not been discovered, but after the first shot they generally all 

 take- wing. In the winter they seldom alight on the ground, except- 

 ing to get water. They feed on the tender buds of the spruce or 

 pine, and their flesh is not palatable. In the fall they are in splendid 

 condition, and without a doubt the best game bird in this country. 

 They feed then almost exclusively on wild berries, of which they find 

 an abundance, preferring a species of wild gooseberry, but eat ser- 

 vice, thimble and salmon-berries, wild currants and cherries, with 

 an occasional cricket or grasshopper, and now and then a few tender 

 tops of plants. The full complement of eggs is from eight to ten. 

 These vary considerably in size, shape and color. In some the 

 ground color might be called a creamy white, in others it is a pale, 

 and again a very deep buff. The eggs are evenly spotted with 

 specks of reddish brown, and none of these larger than an ordinary 

 sized pin head. Their shape is an elongated oval, and they measure 

 as follows, each egg out of different nests: 1.99 X 1-30, 2.02 X 1.33, 

 1.84 X 1-35, 1.90 X 1.30, 1.86 X 1-40 and 1.80 X 1-23. Consider- 

 ing the size of the bird their eggs are very small. They commence 

 laying about May 1. Their nests are always on the ground, gener- 

 ally close to, or under a fallen tree, occasionally in a cavity of a 

 burnt and fallen log, and also in the open air without any cover what- 

 ever. I found such a nest on June 7, 1876, near the summit of the 

 Canyon City mountain. It was placed in perfectly open ground about 

 two feet from the roots of a young fir tree, and contained nine eggs 

 on the point of hatching, all being chipped already. The eggs were 

 laid on the bare ground, a few feathers of the bird and a little dry 

 grass being placed around the edges of the nest. I have several 

 times flushed quite young birds and noticed how quickly they hide 

 themselves, even where there is little to conceal them. The young 

 can soon fly, even when not larger than a man's fist. The love notes 

 of the male, called here hooting, in the early spring, are very peculiar 

 and hard to describe. 



