40 
GROUSE FAMILY. 
but if disturbed, take to trees. When hard pressed by the 
hunter, they sometimes seek safety by plunging into the snow, 
and quickly burrowing beneath it, come out at a distance, and 
often from a situation the least expected, so that they fre- 
quently make good their retreat from their enemies. 
The Sharp-tailed (irouse makes its nest on the ground, near 
some bush, with loose grass and a few feathers ; the eggs are 
from 9 to r3, white, with dusky spots. The young are hatched 
about the middle of June, and utter a puling note something 
like chickens. Unsuccessful attempts have been made to 
domesticate them. The male has a shrill, rather feeble, crow- 
ing note ; and both sexes, when disturbed, and on taking wing, 
repeat a reiterated cry of kuk, kuk, kuk, accompanied by a 
smart flirting of the tail-feathers, nearly similar to the opening 
and closing of a fan. In the breeding-season the male struts 
about proudly, in the usual manner of the genus and order 
to which he belongs. The weight of this bird is about two 
pounds, and the flesh is light brown when cooked, and is much 
esteemed. 
The northern limit of the range of this species, according to 
Richardson, is Great Slave Lake, in 6i degrees; and its most 
southern recorded station is in 41 degrees, on the Missouri. 
It abounds on the outskirts of the Saskatchewan plains, and is 
found throughout the woody districts of the fur countries, in 
open glades and thickets on the borders of lakes, particularly 
in the partially cleared tracts contiguous to the trading posts. 
In winter, like the Pinnated Grouse, it perches generally on 
trees, but in summer it is much on the ground, and is at all 
times associated in coveys of ten to sixteen individuals. Early 
in spring a family of these birds selects a level spot, whereon 
they meet every morning, and run round in a circle of fifteen 
or twenty feet diameter, on which the grass becomes worn 
quite bare. On approaching this ring, the birds squat close to 
the ground, but in a short time stretch out their necks to 
survey the intruder, and if not scared by any nearer advance, 
they soon resume their circular course, some running to the 
right, and others to the left, thus meeting and crossing each 
