DENDEA.GAPUS OBSCURUS. 
“ Tliese birds, at Fort Steilacoom, are very abimdant throughout the spring and early summer. They are there mostly confined to the 
forests of fir trees (Abies Douglassii). Late in the season, after hatching, they may be found generally at midday on the ground, in search 
of berries, seeds, &c. When alarmed, they almost invariably seek safety among the dense foliage of the trees, instinctively appearing to 
nnderstand the advantages of thus hiding. In the autumn they are more generally found on the ground, feeding on sallal and other 
berries. One day in October, 1856, I saw on the Nisqually plains, among fern and grass, five of these birds, full grown, and in excellent 
order. A man killed the whole five, one by one, with a double-barrelled gun, without an attempt being made by a single individual to fly. 
This Grouse is a very fine table bird; the little dash of pine taste its flesh possesses only adding to its game flavor. I have known males, 
in June, weighing three and a half pounds, although they rarely exceed two and three fourths pounds. By August 1st, the young are 
generally half grown. They are then easily killed on the wing, and are excellent for the table.” 
The flesh of this Grouse is white, resembling in appearance that of the Ruffed Grouse (B. Umbellus), to which, in the consideration of 
many, few birds can compare, as regards tenderness and flavor. When on the ground, it will lie very close, sometimes starting up almost 
from under your feet, and generally, instead of seeking safety in distant flight, will take refuge in the nearest tree, where it will remain 
as motionless as the branches themselves, and in this manner escape, since it is next to impossible to discover it, as stated in the pas- 
sage I have quoted above. The male exceeds the female iu size, and is almost unequalled in beauty of plumage and gallant bearing, 
among the American Grouse. Its geographical distribution appears to be Northern California, on the Columbia River, as far as the coast 
of Oregon and Washington Territories, and thence southward in the main chain of the Rocky Mountains as far as Texas. 
As this species, together with its near relative, commonly known as Tetrao RicJiardsoni, appear to possess sufficient characters to dis- 
tinguish them from the genus Oanace (a term formed to include the American Wood Grouse), iu having gular sacks, and tail composed of 
twenty feathers, I have deemed it best to include them iu a separate genus by themselves, and have therefore proposed the term Bendra- 
gapus, or Tree-loving. The nest is formed upon the ground, and the eggs are of an ash-brown color. The male has the entire upper parts 
of a leaden gray, each feather mottled with rufous brown and black, this color extending throughout the upper tail coverts, the two 
middle feathers of which are tipped with ashy. 
The wings are bluish gray, mottled similarly to the back, with, however, larger spots and bars, and inclined to ashy near the end of 
the feathers; the primaries and greater portion of the secondaries brown, with their outer webs of a light brown. Space before the eye, 
chin, and throat, white, irregularly crossed with black. Breast and abdomen dark lead color ; the feathers on the flanks broadly marked 
with white (in some instances, with a white central streak widening at the end). A spot of white upon the neck just forward of the 
wing. This covers the naked skin of the gular sacks, when it is not inflated. The tail feathers are black, rounded at the end, with 
a broad terminal band of ash gray, and the under coverts dark lead color, broadly tipped wuth white. Thighs and tarsi pale brown. 
Bill black. 
The female has the upper parts of a grayish brown, each feather with bars of black and rufons brown ; the black bars broadest and most 
conspicuous upon the lower part of the neck and back ; and here also are bars of brownish yellow iu place of the rufous brown. Upper part 
of head yellowish brown, crossed with fine dark brown lines ; back of neck leaden gray, indistinctly barred with black lines ; upper tail coverts 
grayish, with zig-zag lines of black and yellowish brown. Wings lighter brown than the back, but similarly crossed with brown and black, 
and the shafts of the feathers whitish. Primaries and secondaries light brown, the outer webs of both mottled with a very light brown, 
darker, however, on the secondaries. Tail black, excepting the central feathers, which are marked like the back, and with a broad terminal 
band of ash gray. Throat white, faintly marked with brown; upper part of head dark lead color, with irregidar lines of yellowish brown 
crossing near the end of the feathers ; under parts lead color, lighter than the male, and much obscured with wfoite, and the feathers bordering 
the belly broadly tipped with white. Under tail coverts dark gray, crossed with black lines, and tipped with white. Thighs and tarsi light 
brown. Bill black. 
The plate represents the male of life size, and a reduced figure of the female in the distance. 
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