GROUSE, PTARMIGANS, ETC.: DUSKY GROUSE 197 
brown; tad blackish with terminal bluish gray band 1-1 <4 inches wide on middle 
leathers, 5- 8 wide on outermost; underparts light slaty, varied with white especially 
" °" er )( . ^ an( ^ A an ks; iris brown-orange, bill black, feathered feet grayish, barred 
i brow nish. Adult female: Like male but smaller and lighter, upperparts more 
Vanc ' VIt 1 w &te and tawny, some of scapulars with white shaft streaks. Young in 
jiiLCJia p utnaqe. Like adult female but “upperparts with hammer-headed white shaft 
mcs. ai with white shaft lines enlarged at end, also marked on some of the feathers 
with wavy blackish cross bars” (Coues). 
Range. -Resident in Canadian and Transition Zones in Rocky Mountains from 
noi urn Utah and Colorado to western New Mexico, central Arizona, and eastern 
Humboldt Mountains, Nevada. 
• r ^ TA y. R ~ ^ ^e mos k southern extension of the range of the Dusky Grouse 
H °\T 1 ?» ^ ex * co ? "'here it occurs south to the Mogollon Mountains. From 
ie * ogo ons it has been noted on most of the higher ranges northward; the San 
rancisco Range (B. B. <fc R.), and mountains near Aragon, Socorro County (Ligon); 
ag e ea ^ * n ^ularosa Range, and Pinyon Mountain, north of the Datil Range 
tl ai } G * V ! an ^ a ^ eo an ^ Zuni Mountains (Grover); Santa Clara Peak, Pelado Peak, 
(n> -i 01 ^ oyo *; e Creek in the Jemez Mountains, and the San Juan Mountains 
( ai e\), [on the divide between Black Lake and Moreno Valley (S. E. Piper, 1919)]. 
t is most abundant in the great mountain mass from Pecos Baldy north to the 
ooi .ico New Mexico line and ranges continuously throughout its heavy conif¬ 
erous forests. 
It lives mainly on the mountain sides from about 7,500 feet or as low a squaking 
gr ° W * nearl y to timberline (Ligon). An early set of eggs was taken May 16, 
, at 10,000 feet on Hermit Peak, San Miguel County (Mitchell). The nesting 
lorv? 511 Cont * nues so I 0 ** that young only a third grown were seen in early August, 
. . , at 11.000 feet on Pecos Baldy (Bailey). The species sometimes nests as low as 
8,000 feet, as at Willis, where it was common the middle of July, 1903 (Bailey), 
t a ways nests in the timber, but after the young are partly grown both old and young 
o ten range into the open, and in 1903, as late in the fall as October 7, were found near 
heeler Peak at 12,000 feet, a thousand feet, above timberlinc (Surber). During 
t ie winter season it retires from these higher altitudes, but many still remain not 
much below timberline, while others descend into the lower valleys to 8,000 feet near 
Taos Pueblo (Bailey), and to 7,000 feet near Chama (Loring). [In 1916, Ligon 
reported them well scattered over the northern and western parts of the State, but 
apparently not abundant anywhere. In May, 1916, a heavy freeze and snowstorm 
prevented the raising of young in the Sangre de Cristo region, and in 1919 the birds 
were only just regaining their former numbers. In 1922 Jensen wrote from northern 
Santa he County that owing to a statewide close season of several years duration 
they had increased considerably in numbers and were quite common in the mountains 
from 9,500 feet, to timberline. Sheep herders told him of nests containing 7 to 14 
eggs. In 1927, Ligon stated that, west of the Rio Grande, the Grouse “occurs only 
very locally about the summits of the highest ridges and peaks of some of the moun¬ 
tains, and added that, “Formerly it was far more common throughout its range than 
at present.” Over considerable stretches of its range it has remained very scarce, 
doubtless because of “unfavorable breeding conditions, particularly scarcity of 
natural ground cover. Where the natural growth of weeds and grasses has been 
permitted to develop, the birds have best retained their numbers” (Wild Life of New 
Mexico)].—W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —A shallow depression beside a log or under grass or bushes, slightly lined 
with a few pine needles or a little grass. Eggs: Most commonly 7 (Ligon), buff or 
cream color, spotted over the entire surface with brown. 
