Part 101

HABITS. This race is the more northern and northwestern coast form of the Dusky Grouse, and is found from the Columbia River and British Columbia to Alaska. According to Dr. Suckley, it is generally known as the Blue Grouse in Oregon, and is also called the Pine Grouse, as well as the Dusky Grouse. He met with it for the first time when his party had reached the main chain of the Rocky Mountains, and where they found it exceedingly abundant, as afterwards in the Blue Mountains of Oregon, the Cascade Mountains, and in all the timbered country between the Coast Range and the Pacific Ocean. About the middle of November these birds are said to entirely disappear, and it is very rare to meet with even a single individual between that period and the 20th of the following March. As to their whereabouts during this period there is a great difference of opinion among the settlers. Some maintain that they are migratory and retire to the south. Others are of the opinion that they retire to the tops of the highest evergreen trees, where they pass the cold season in a state of partial torpor among the thickest foliage of the branches. As these birds are known to subsist on the leaves of the Coniferæ, and can always obtain sufficient water from the snow and rain-drops to supply their wants, Dr. Suckley was inclined to favor the latter explanation of their absence. He saw one of these birds on the ground during a fall of snow, in January, near the Nisqually River, in Washington Territory, and he was informed that a hunter near Olympia, whose eyesight was remarkably excellent, was able, any day during the winter, to obtain several birds by searching carefully for them among the tree-tops of the tallest and most thickly leaved firs. This requires much better eyesight than most men possess, for these birds are of a sombre hue, crowd very closely to the limb, and sit there immovable. They are therefore very difficult to find among the dense branches.

The first indication of their presence in spring is the courting call of the male. This is a prolonged sound, resembling the whir of a rattan cane moved rapidly through the air. This is repeated several times with considerable rapidity, and then stops for a brief interval. This is said to be produced by the alternate inflation and contraction of sacs, one on each side of the throat, which are usually concealed by the feathers, and are covered by an orange-colored, thick, corrugated skin. At Fort Steilacoom these birds were very abundant during the spring and early summer, and were mostly confined to the forests of firs. Later in the season, and after hatching, they are more generally found on the ground in search of berries and seeds. When alarmed, they seek safety among the dense foliage of the trees, seeming instinctively to understand the advantage of thus hiding. He has known an entire flock of five, concealed among the ferns and grass, to be shot one by one, without an attempt being made by a single individual to fly. This Grouse is said to be a very fine table bird, its pine taste only adding to its game-flavor. Their full weight is from 2¾ to 3½ pounds.

Dr. Cooper never met with the nest of eggs of either of the races of the Dusky Grouse, but in June flocks of half-grown young were killed by the Indians near Puget Sound. In winter they were so rarely seen west of the mountains that they are believed to keep entirely in the trees. In October, 1853, he saw a flock running through the snow near the Spokane Plains, one of which was shot; but he never afterwards met with any in the winter.

Mr. J. K. Lord found this Grouse almost exclusively on the western side of the Rocky Mountains. It appeared at Vancouver, at Nisqually, and along the banks of the Fraser River, about the end of March, the male bird announcing his coming by a kind of love-song. This is a booming noise, repeated at short intervals, and so deceptive that Mr. Lord has often stood under the tree where the bird was perched and imagined the sound came from a distance.

Mr. Nuttall found this Grouse breeding in the shady forests of the region of the Columbia, where he saw or heard them throughout the summer. He describes the tooting made by the male as resembling the sound caused by blowing into the bung-hole of a barrel. They breed on the ground, and are said to keep the brood together all winter.

Townsend describes the eggs as numerous, of a cinereous-brown color, blunt at both ends, and small for the bird. The actions of the female, when the young are following her, are said to be exactly similar to those of the Ruffed Grouse, employing all the artifices of that bird in feigning lameness, etc., to draw off intruders.

Canace obscurus, var. richardsoni, DOUGLAS.

RICHARDSON’S DUSKY GROUSE.

Tetrao obscurus, AUD. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 446, pl. ccclxv.—IB. Syn. 1839, 283.—IB. B. Am. I, 1842, 89.—NUTT. Orn. I, 1840, 609.—SWAINS. F. B. A. II, 1831, 344, pl. lix, lx. Tetrao richardsoni, DOUGL. Linn. Trans. XVI, 141.—LORD, Pr. R. A. I. IV, 122 (between Cascade and Rocky Mountains).—GRAY, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. V, 1867, 86. Dendragapus richardsoni, ELLIOT, P. A. N. S. 1864, 23.—IB. Monog. Tetraon, pl.—WILSON, Illust. 1831, pl. xxx, xxxi.

SP. CHAR. Tail-feathers broad and nearly truncated; tail almost perfectly square, and black to the tip, with the terminal band either only faintly indicated or entirely wanting; in all other respects exactly like var. obscurus. Male (18,397, Browns Cut off. N. Rocky Mountains; Lieutenant Mullan). Length, about 20.00; wing, 9.00; tail, 7.30; tarsus, 1.70; middle toe, 1.85. Female (18,398, forty miles west of Fort Benton; Lieutenant Mullan). Wing, 8.60; tail, 6.00; tarsus, 1.60; middle toe, 1.60.

HAB. Rocky Mountains of British America, south to the Yellowstone and Hellgate region of the United States.

No. 18,377, Hellgate, and others from localities where this form and var. obscurus approach each other, have the terminal zone of the tail of the usual width, and even sharply defined; but it is so dark as to be scarcely distinguishable from the ground-color.

HABITS. In regard to distinctive peculiarities in habits and manners, of this form of Grouse, if it possesses any, our information is quite limited. In its external markings and in size it appears to be readily distinguishable from the T. obscurus either specifically or as a well-marked interior race. Mr. J. K. Lord refers to it in his account of the obscurus, where he states that between the Cascades and the Rocky Mountains the Dusky Grouse appears to be replaced by a well-marked variety, if not a distinct species. In size it is a trifle smaller, but the great mark of distinction is the entire absence of the white band at the end of the tail. In their habits, in their periods of arrival and departure, or rather of appearance and disappearance, the two varieties are pronounced to be, in every respect, similar. In regard to their unexplained disappearance and reappearance, Mr. Lord is of the opinion that these birds do not migrate, but only retire into the thickest trees, and, living on the buds, pass the winter thus sheltered in the tree-tops.

Captain Blakiston thinks that this species is the form that inhabits the interior of British North America, and refers the figure of the male in Richardson’s Fauna to the richardsoni,—the Black-tailed and smaller species. In his wanderings he met with these birds only in or near the pine woods on the slopes of the Rocky Mountains; but, having killed only females, he could not feel certain of the species. These Grouse range towards the Pacific as far as the Cascade Mountains of Oregon 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 ranges of the two species are fully defined, he thinks the T. richardsoni will be found the more northern bird.

The eggs of Tetrao richardsoni are very similar, except in size, to those of the obscurus, resembling them closely in their ground-color, as well as in their markings. In the specimens in the cabinet of the Boston Natural History Society the spots are smaller, a little less distinct, and less numerous. The eggs are 1.75 inches in length, and from 1.35 to 1.36 inches in breadth.

GENUS CENTROCERCUS, SWAINSON.

Centrocercus, SWAINSON, F. B. A. II, 1831, 496. (Type, Tetrao urophasianus, BON.)

GEN. CHAR. Tail excessively lengthened (longer than the wings), cuneate, the feathers all lanceolate and attenuate. Lower throat and sides of the neck with stiffened, apparently abraded, spinous feathers. Nasal fossæ extending very far forward, or along about two thirds of the culmen. Color mottled yellowish-grayish and dusky above; beneath whitish with black abdominal patch. Stomach not muscular, but soft, as in the Raptorial birds!

Centrocercus urophasianus, (BON.) SW.

SAGE-COCK; COCK OF THE PLAINS.

Tetrao urophasianus, BONAP. Zool. Jour. III, Jan. 1828, 214.—IB. Am. Orn. III, 1830, pl. xxi, f. 1.—IB. Mon. Tetrao, in Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. N. S. III, 1830, 390.—DOUGLAS, Trans. Linn. Soc. XVI, 1829, 133.—NUTTALL, Man. I, 1832, 666.—AUD. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 503, pl. ccclxxi.—IB. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 106, pl. ccxcvii.—NEWBERRY, Zoöl. Cal. & Or. Route, Rep. P. R. R. Surv. VI, iv, 1857, 95.—MAX. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 431.—WILSON, Illust. 1831, pl. xxvi, xxvii. Tetrao (Centrocercus) urophasianus, SW. F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 358, pl. lviii.—GRAY, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. III, 46, 1844.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 624.—COOP. & SUCKL. 222.—JARD. Game Birds, Nat. Lib. IV, 140, pl. xvii.—ELLIOT, P. A. N. S, 1864.—IB. Monog. Tetraon. pl.—GRAY, Cat. Brit. Mus. V, 1867, 87.—COOP. & SUCK. 222.—COOP. Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 536. Centrocercus urophasianus, JARDINE, Game Birds, Nat. Lib. Birds, IV, 140, pl. xvii. ?? Tetrao phasianellus, ORD, Guthrie’s Geog. (2d Am. ed.) II, 1815, 317, based on Lewis & Clark, II, 181. Cock of the Plains, LEWIS & CLARK, II, 180, sp. 2.

SP. CHAR. Tail-feathers twenty. Above varied with black, grayish-brown, and brownish-yellow; coverts having all the feathers streaked with the latter. Beneath black; the breast white; the upper feathers with spiny shafts; the lower streaked with black; tail-coverts with white tips; the sides also with much white. Male. Length, 33.00; wing, 13.00; tail, 13.00. Female. Length, 21.50; wing, 10.75; tail, 7.50. Chick. Upper surface brownish-gray, lower grayish-white. Above irregularly and coarsely marbled with black, the markings most conspicuous on the head. Bill black.

HAB. Artemisia, or sage, plains of the Northwest.

HABITS. The Cock of the Plains appears to be confined to dry and sterile regions, from the Black Hills to California and Oregon, and from British Columbia nearly to Arizona, but only in those portions of the plains in which the Artemisia, or sage, abounds. It was met with by Townsend for the first time about fifty miles west of the Black Hills. He did not find them in the valley of the Snake River, but saw them again at Wallah-Wallah, on the banks of the Columbia, and near the mouth of the Lewis River. He only found it on the plains that produce the wormwood, on which plant it feeds, and in consequence of which the flesh becomes so bitter that it is unfit for food. It was very unsuspicious and easily approached, rarely flying unless hard pressed, and running ahead at the distance of a few feet, clucking like the common Hen. When disturbed, it would often run under the horse’s feet. According to his account it rises very clumsily, but, when once started, flies with great rapidity and also to a great distance. It is said to have the sailing motion of the Pinnated Grouse. They are abundant in autumn on the branches of the Columbia, at which time they are regarded as good food by the natives, and are taken in great quantities in nets.

Mr. Nuttall met with this Grouse in considerable numbers on the north branch of the Platte. They were always on the ground in small flocks or pairs, by no means shy; but when too nearly approached, uttering a rather loud but short guttural cackle, and rising with a strong whirring sound. Their notes, at times, strongly resembled those of the common Hen. He never met with them in any forest, nor have they been taken near the coast of California.

Centrocercus urophasianus.]

This species was first obtained by Lewis and Clark’s party in their expedition to the Rocky Mountains. It was afterwards met with by Douglas, who published in the Linnæan Transactions (XVI, p. 133) an account of its habits. He described its flight as slow, unsteady, and as affording but little amusement to the sportsman; being a succession of flutterings, rather than anything else. They rise hurriedly, giving two or three flaps of the wing, swinging from side to side in their movement, and gradually falling, making a whirring sound, at the same time uttering a cry of cuck-cuck-cuck, like the common Pheasant. They pair in March and April.

At the mating-season the male is said to select some small eminence on the banks of streams for the very singular performances it goes through with at that period in the presence of its mate. The wings are lowered and dragged on the ground, making a buzzing sound; the tail, somewhat erect, is spread like a fan; the bare and yellow œsophagus is inflated to a prodigious size, and said to become nearly half as large as its body, while the silky flexile feathers on the neck are erected. Assuming this grotesque form, the bird proceeds to display a singular variety of attitudes, at the same time chanting a love-song in a confused and grating, but not an offensively disagreeable tone, represented as resembling hurr-hurr-hurr-r-r-r-hoo, ending in a deep and hollow utterance.