210 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
marked with large white spots or bars; underparts white, breast and sides with 
brown V-shaped markings; iris light brown, bill olive above, gray below, feathered 
legs and feet grayish brown, toes with horny fringes. Young in juvennl plumage: 
Upperparts largely yellowish’ brown, feathers with irregular black patches and white 
shaft streaks; wings spotted with white; feathers of breast, sides and flanks pale yel¬ 
lowish brown with small black spots and white shaft streaks. 
Comparisons. —The sharply pointed tail of the Grouse easily distinguishes it 
from the broad-tailed Prairie Chicken, which also has conspicuous neck tufts, lacking 
in the Grouse. (See p. 207.) 
Range. —Mainly Transition Zone from interior of British Columbia and central 
Alberta south to northern New Mexico, Utah, and (formerly) northeastern California. 
State Records. —In 1926 Ligon found the Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse com¬ 
mon on Johnson Mesa, east of Raton, from 8,000 to 9,000 feet. On November 23 
and 24, he saw three flocks, aggregating in number about 75 individuals, and col¬ 
lected a pair. The birds also occur, he found, in smaller numbers, on Barillo and 
Fisher Peak Mesas, northeast of Raton, Fisher Peak Mesa lying, for the most part, 
in Colorado, and so naturally leading them down into New Mexico. 
Nest. —A hollow in the ground, usually hidden by a tuft of grass, lined with dried 
grass and a few of the bird's feathers. Eggs: 11 to 14, creamy buff to olive-brown, 
usually lightly spotted with reddish brown. 
General Habits. —Though naturally a bird of more northern coun¬ 
try with abundant rank grass for breeding places, the high altitude of 
the grassy, broken rimmed mesas northeast of Raton, some 8,000-9,000 
feet in elevation, “appears to create a little world suitable to it in New 
Mexico,’' which, the oldest settlers attest, has long been inhabited by it 
(Ligon, 1927). The fact that during the deep snows of winter it finds a 
ready supply of waste grain on the extensive grain lands of Johnson 
Mesa, suggests that a reduction in grazing in summer and feeding by 
ranchmen in winter might help to hold it in favorable territory. Better 
control of predatory animals will also help materially. 
On the prairies of North Dakota where the true Prairie Hen and the 
Sharp-tailed Grouse occur together, when a startled grouse hidden by 
its cover whirrs up from under your feet to fly with a beat and a soar— 
several beats and a soar—and a low guttural cluck-uk-uk-uk-ak, the 
projecting tail feathers of the disappearing bird pronounce its name. 
Might they not deter the broods from following after strange mothers? 
“So it seemed when a parent of each species flew up beside our road, one 
of them trailing a large family of young’' (1915-16, p. 175). 
The small yellowish brown chicks, some with a wisp of crest, suggest 
young turkeys, and it is interesting to watch their wise mother trying to 
outwit the innocent looker-on by curving off on her broad wings, leaving 
them to hide away in the grass. 
Though the Grouse usually keep well hidden in summer, as Mr. 
Bailey says—“in winter when their plumage has become dense and their 
feet and legs rabbit-like, they may be seen crossing the fields on top 
of the snow or getting their breakfast of buds from the tops of trees and 
