122 
Capt. Blakiston on the Birds of the 
total length. The eye was of a light yellowish brown; feet 
very light greenish ash, feathered as far as the division of the 
toes ; bill dusky brown ; patch above the eye yellow. A decided 
half-erected crest is observable on the bird's head when alive. 
In my wanderings, I met with these birds only in or near the 
pine-woods on the slopes of the Rocky Mountains; but, having 
only killed females, I cannot be certain of the species. One or 
the other Dusky or Black-tailed Grouse ranges towards the 
Pacific, as far as the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, Washington, 
and British Columbia, and along the Rocky Mountains from the 
head waters of the Platte to the Liard River, a tributary of the 
Mackenzie. When the two species are properly defined, I think 
it likely that T. richardsonii will turn out to be the more northern. 
Tetrao canadensis. 
The Canada Grouse is given in the ‘ Fauna Bor.-Am.' as a 
resident in the thick spruce-forests of the interior, and one is 
there noted from the eastern declivity of the Rocky Mountains : 
there is also a specimen in the Smithsonian Institution from 
Red River Settlement; and it is given by Mr. Murray from 
Hudson's Bay. I found it as far west as Port Carlton; and 
Mr. Ross has traced it northward on the Mackenzie to the 
Arctic coast. 
91. Tetrao franklini. 
This bird, first made known as a distinct species, by specimens 
from the Rocky Mountains, by the lamented David Douglas, 
seems to be confined to that range and the country lying between 
it and the Pacific. Not being aware of the existence of a bird 
closely allied to T. canadensis, I did not take any particular care in 
examining individuals which I obtained at different times on the 
Saskatchawan; but still I think, if I had come across this bird, I 
should have been attracted by the dissimilarity. The first time 
I observed Franklin's Grouse was while following an Indian trail 
through thick pine-woods, from the summit of the Kootonay 
Pass into the valley of the Flathead River, on the 21st of August 
1858. I do not know what induced me to shoot the bird, for 
it was not my custom to waste ammunition; but it may have 
been that I was in better humour than usual from having just 
