Part 8

THE SPRUCE GROUSE

(Dendragapus franklini)

The spruce or Franklin grouse of Oregon and Washington is a species of the Canadian spruce grouse, and ranges diagonally through the mountains of eastern Oregon and Washington, and thence to the coast of British Columbia. It confines its habitat to the higher mountains, being seldom found below an elevation of four to five thousand feet. This is another of the grouse family that has been given the name of "fool hen," on account of its naturally tame nature. When sitting on the limb of a tree, but a few feet above the ground, it considers itself safe from all harm and makes little effort to escape, and may often be killed with a stick. There is little sport in shooting this variety. The food of this species, like all other mountain dwelling grouse, is buds, tender shoots and seeds, berries and insects when obtainable.

=Color=--Male--Upper parts gray, the central back and the wings having a brownish hue; the tail-coverts, which are tipped with broad splashes of white is a distinguishing feature of this species; feathers, on the flanks tipped broadly with white, throat, black, imperfectly edged with white; tail, nearly square at the end and of a brownish color.

Female--Considerably more of an ochreous cast. It has the same characteristic broad white tips on the feathers of the flanks; tail, dirty ochre, mottled with black and narrowly tipped with white.

=Nest and Eggs=--The nest is a depression in the ground in some secluded place and lined with leaves or grass. The eggs, averaging about a dozen, are of a reddish buff mottled with brown.

=Measurements=--Total length about 15 inches; wing about 7 inches. Weight from one and a half to two pounds.

THE SAGE HEN

(Centrocercus urophasianus)

The sage grouse, or sage hen is the largest of the grouse of America, some of the males weighing as much as seven pounds. Its range, so far as the geographical scope of this work is concerned, is northeastern California, Nevada, and eastern Oregon and Washington, but it extends much farther east. It is only found in the sage brush districts of the high altitudes. They usually remain in single broods, though they are sometimes found in much larger flocks. They often travel for considerable distances, "following the leader" in single file. They strut in the nesting season, but in a peculiar way, pushing their breasts on the ground until the feathers are worn off and even the skin abraded.

A peculiarity of the sage grouse is that it has no gizzard, but instead it has a stomach more like that of an animal. The young birds lie quite well to a dog and furnish very good sport, and until they are about half grown the flesh is quite good, but the older birds are very unsavory and in fact almost unpalatable. This is caused by their feeding almost entirely upon the leaves of the sage.

=Color=--Male--Upper parts, gray, barred with brown; tail, very long, the longer feathers being quite narrow and stiff and barred also with brown; a dark line over the eye and a light one from the eye down the side of the neck; throat and cheeks, nearly white, mottled with black; a few long hairy like feathers grow from the side of the neck of the male birds.

Female--The female is colored and marked like the male but considerably darker, is much smaller, with shorter tail and without the hairy feathers on the side of the neck.

=Nest and Eggs=--The nest is nothing more than a hollow in the midst of some bunch of brush, possibly lined with a few leaves. The eggs are from twelve to eighteen in number and of a greenish shade, mottled with bright brown, but these spots are easily rubbed off.

=Measurements=--Male--Total length from 24 to 28 inches; wing, 12 to 14. Weight, from four to seven pounds.

Female--Total length, from 20 to 22 inches; wing, 10 to 12. Weight, from three to five pounds.

COLUMBIAN SHARP-TAILED GROUSE

(Pediocaetes phasianellus columbianus)

The Columbian sharp-tailed grouse is the "prairie chicken" of eastern Washington. It is far different from the pinated grouse (=Tympanuchus=) of the middle states, commonly called prairie chicken. Its habitat is much the same, however, being the open plains and untimbered foothills east of the Cascade mountains in Washington and through eastern Oregon into northern Nevada, and the extreme northeastern corner of California. The sharp-tail grouse has the same habit of strutting in large groups like the prairie chicken at the beginning of the nesting season. They do not drum, however, like the eastern bird, but make a noise more like an attempt to crow. They also take refuge in the timber for protection from the storms of winter.

During the hunting season they lie well to a dog and afford fine shooting. The food of the sharp-tailed grouse consists of about ten per cent insects, the balance being made up of seeds, grains and berries, with a good percentage of "brouse" in the winter.

=Color=--Male--Side of head and throat, pale buff with mottlings of brown on the cheeks; back and wings, gray, mottled with black; breast, light buff. Under parts, white with lines of dark brown; central tail feathers long and pointed; no long feathers on the neck.

Female--Resembles the male with the exception that the tail feathers are not so long.

=Nest and Eggs=--The nest is a rude affair on the ground, lined with a little dead grass and generally contains from ten to fifteen eggs of a greenish buff speckled with fine dots of brown.

=Measurements=--Total length from 14 to 16 inches, with the wing about eight; the central tail feathers are about five inches in length. The average bird will weigh about two pounds.

Order ANSERES

Family, ANATIDAE

Range. (All Genus Species Common Names breed far north.) ------------ ------------------ ------------------- -------------------

Subfamily, ANSERENAE