SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. 
Ill 
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 oh the upper branches of a tree. Before the cock 
quits his perch, he utters repeatedly the cry of cuc/c, cuck, 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 (Larimie’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. Amer. Orn., vol. iii. p. 37. 
Tetrao 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. 
