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ON THE GEOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY 
regarded as having a far Western range. On the Lower Missouri it is quite abundant, but 
on the Upper Missouri it does not meet with its peculiar and favorite food. I have seen 
small flocks high up on the Yellowstone when the wild berries, which grow there in 
great abundance, were ripe, but I do not think I have ever seen more than a hundred 
individuals in a single season. It is doubtless a straggler in the far West. 
Zenaidura Carolinensis, Bonap. 
Common Dove. Baird, General Report on Birds, p. 604. 
Is quite common throughout the Northwest. The islands of the Missouri are its favor¬ 
ite breeding-places. A nest on Cedar island was found built without care on the ground 
in a depression; a second was observed on a tree about ten feet above the ground, con¬ 
structed with very little care, of a few spires of grass. Distributed throughout the United 
States from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 
Tetrao obscurus, Say. 
Dusky Grouse. Baird, General Report on Birds, p. 6’20. 
I have seen this fine bird in but one locality, the Laramie range of mountains. We there 
saw several flocks, from which we managed to shoot a dozen or more. Its flesh is white 
and exceedingly delicate for food. I am told that it lives in the Black hills, though it 
was not observed by any of the members of our party. Its range is from the Laramie 
mountains to the Cascade mountains of Oregon and Washington. 
Centrocercus urophasianus, Sw. 
Sage Cock. Baird, General Report on Birds, p. 624. 
This species seems to be confined to the Sage plains of the West. I have never seen it 
in great abundance. In my wanderings in the valley of the Yellowstone river, during the 
summer of 1854, I saw but one flock, of about a dozen individuals, and I do not think I 
have seen more than eighty or a hundred in all. It is said to occur in large numbers in 
the Green river country. It is confined mostly to the vicinity of the mountains, and seems 
to be decreasing annually. 
Pedioecetes phasianellus, Baird. 
Sharp-tailed Grouse. Baird, General Report on Birds, p. 626. 
This bird is seldom seen below Council bluffs. From thence to the mountains it is very 
abundant, and often supplies the hungry voyager with a delicious meal. In the winter 
season it may be seen in great numbers sitting upon trees, apparently motionless, and thus 
they permit the hunter to approach very near them. 
Cupidonia cupido, Baird. 
Prairie Hen. Baird, General Report on Birds, p. 628. 
The highest point on the Missouri that I have observed this bird, is the mouth of the 
