196 
TETRAO OBSCORUS. 
and composed of twenty broad and rounded feath e .. 
This peculiarity of the extraordinary number of * 
feathers, is only found besides in the cock of the p' 8 ' 1 J 
in which, however, they are not rounded, but t'v, 
slender, tapering’, and acute. In size and colo l,r J 
dusky grouse may be compared to the black grouS*. e 
Europe, so remarkable for the outward curvature 
lateral feathers of the tail. , . 
The present specimen is that on which Say estabk" 8 j 
the species : it was killed on a mountain in the 
chain dividing the waters of the Mississippi from 18 (lI , 
which flow towards the Pacific, at a spot whef®> . (l ( 
the 10th of July, 1820, the exploring party of 
Long were overlooking, from an elevation of 
two thousand feet, a wide extent of country. A 
river poured down the side of the mountain thrO"r^,- 
deep and inaccessible chasm, forming a continued cas c ^y 
of several hundred feet. The surface of the coi' 11 ^; 
appeared broken for several miles, and in many #* U 
valleys could be discerned columnar and 
py raI hei* 
masses of sandstone, some entirely naked, and o' 
bearing small tufts of bushes about their siu" 11 ' ,[ 
When the bird flew, and, at the unexpected mom 1 ' 1 ' , 
its death, it uttered a cacklingnote, somewhat resenw 
that of the domestic fowl. 
* 
The female dusky grouse is eighteen inches in l pD s jji 
The bill measures precisely an inch, which is sna" 1 ^ 
proportion ; it is blackish, with the base of the 
mandible whitish. The general colour of the 
is blackish brown, much lighter on the neck ‘ ,• 
beneath, all the feathers having two or three '""’‘jk’ 
bars of pale ochreous, much less pure and bright o 1 ’ 
neck and breast ; the small short feathers at the 
ot the bill covering- the nostrils are tinged ' J 
ferruginous, those immediately nearest the fo rc 
have but a single band, and are slightly tipped, '* t j,r 
the larger ones of the neck, back, rump, and eV ^Lf< 
tail-coverts, as well as the feathers of the breast, k |)fl 
two bands and the tip. These rufous terminal n>® r r j], 
on the upper portion of the back, and on the 
