THE j^HARP-TATLED OROUSE* 137 
skirts of the Saskatcbewan plains, and is found 
throughout the woody districts of the fur countrie*, 
haunting open glades aad low thickets on the border!^ 
of lakes*. 
Buonaparte thus details their manners. " The 
Sharp-tailed Grouse h remarkably shy, linng solitary, 
or by pairs during siimini^r, and not associating in 
packs till autumn ; remaining tlms throughout, the 
winter- They, of choice^ inhabit what are called 
the juni[>er plains, keeping among the small juni- 
per bushoH, which constitute their food. They are' 
usually iiieen on the ground^ hut when disturbed 
fly to the highest trees. Their food in summer is 
composed of berries, the various sorts of which they 
eagerly seek : in wnriter they are confined to the 
buds and tops of evergreens, or of birch and elder, 
bat especially poplar, of which they are very fond. 
They are more easily approached in autumn than 
when they inhabit large forests? as they then keep 
alighting on the tops of the tallest poplars, beyond 
the reach of an ordinary gun. When disturbed in 
that position, ihey are apt to hide themselves in the 
anow ; hut tieame informs ns, that the htmter's 
chatice is not the better for that, for so rapidly do 
they make their way beneath the surface, that they 
often suddenly take wing several yards from the spot 
where they entered, and almost always in a different 
direction from that which is expected, 
'* Like the rest of its kind, the aharp-taited giouse 
• Northern Zoology. 
VOL. IV. o 
