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THE LIBRARY

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THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

Fig. 1 — The Dusky Grouse (D. o. obscurus). Male (the lower one) and female. Reproduction made by the

author of Audubon's plate.

The American Grouse and Their Identi-
fication

By DR. R. W. SHUFELDT, F. A. O. U., ETC.

INTRODUCTION:— DUSKY GROUSE

PART I.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS. BY THE AUTHOR

JAVING completed and
published, in ten parts
in Outer's Book, the con-
tribution wherein I at-
tempted— by the use of
figures and descriptions —
to present data, by means
of which the ducks of
this country could be
easily distinguished, I now pass to a con-
sideration of the American Grouse, — a
group of most interesting birds which will
be treated here in a similar way.

In an article of mine, published in The
American Naturalist (Vol. XXXVIII, Nos.
455-456, Nov., Dec., 1904r pp. 833-857), I
give "An Arrangement of the Families and
the Higher Groups of Birds," and in that
arrangement the Gallinaceous Birds or fowls
are arrayed in a Suborder (XXIV) Gallina,
wherein are included seven families, — all
more or less related to each other. These
are the mound-birds (Megapodia), the curas-

sows, guans, etc., (Cracida), of which we
have but one species in this country, namely,
the Texan guan, and the several families
containing the pheasants, the grouse, the
quails, the guinea fowls, and the American
turkeys; in other words, respectively, the
Phasianidce, the Tetraonidce, the Odontophor-
id(B, the Numidida and the Meleagrida.

From this it will be seen that fowls, as
game, occur in nearly every part of the
world with a truly marvellous array of
genera and species. Of this immense host,
however, I will consider here but the Ameri-
can forms of one family, — that is, the Tetra-
onid(B, which includes the true grouse, the
spruce partridges, ptarmigans, prairie chick-
ens, sharp-tailed grouse and the sage hen.
In other words, I shall have nothing to do
with any of the four or five species of big,
true pheasants, which we have introduced
into several parts of the country, where
they are now wild and rapidly increasing;
nor with our various species of bob-whites

B — 5216—

240

The Outer's Book

and quails; nor, finally, with our wild turkey
and its several subspecies, and the cha-
chalaca.

All the true grouse of this country are
included in the family Tetraonidce, 'and this
family has been divided into seven genera,
namely: the genus Dendragapus, containing
the dusky grouse and its subspecies; the
genus Canachites, containing the spruce
grouses and Franklin's grouse; the genus
Bonasa, containing the ruffed grouse and
its subspecies; the genus Lagopus, contain-
ing some fifteen species and subspecies of
ptarmigans; the genus Tympanuchus, con-
taining the heath hen and prairie chickens;
the genus Pedicecetes, the sharp-tailed grouse,
and, finally, the genus Centrocercus, which
has been created to contain the single
species Centrocercus urophasianus or sage
hen of the sagebush plains of the West.

These American grouse are found in
various parts of the United States, and in
Alaska and its off-lying islands. Grouse,
entirely outside of these limits, will not be
considered, — for instance, such a form as
Welch's ptarmigan, which is confined strictly
to Newfoundland. (Lagopus welchi).

No country in all the world can compete
with North America in the great number
and variety of grouse contained in its
avifauna. At one time, they were all con-
fined to the genus Tetrao, which is the Latin
word for a grouse or a pheasant, and hence
Tetraonida or the family created to contain
them and their allies. We have no true
Tetrao in this country now, which will be a
surprise to most sportsmen; for, years ago,
they all knew it as the word — the scientific
word — which was applied to all true grouse
everywhere. As a matter of fact, the late
Professor Sharpe, in his "Hand-List of
Birds," recognizes but five true species of
Tetrao, the type being T. urogallus or the
famous capercaillie, and forms more or less
related to it which occur in Europe and
northern Asia.

At one time, I know, the attempt was
made to introduce the capercaillie into Maine;
but how well it has done there, I am, at
present, not informed. If it has thriven as
well and as long as some of the Chinese and
Japanese pheasants, which have been intro-
duced into Oregon and elsewhere, it is
now entitled to be recognized as a bird
of this country, although an "introduced"
one.

As in the case of the ducks, I shall adhere
to the third addition of "The A. O. U. Check-
List of North American Birds" as the
authority for the number of genera, species
and subspecies~of our grouse, as well as for
the sequence of the genera in the matter of

classification. This latter seems to be quite
a natural one, and one of which I can approve,
which is more than I can say with respect
to. the arrangements adopted for some of
the other groups and families.

I shall now invite attention to a general
review of these grouse, and devote the last
part of the article to a consideration of
the genus Dendragapus, which includes the
various forms of the dusky tree grouse.

First in the list, then, we have the genus
Dendragapus, derived from two Gr^ek words,
namely: dendron, a tree, and agapao, I
love, — so named from the fact that these
birds spend much of their time up in the
trees.

Richardson's grouse (D. o. richardsoni) is
a representative of this genus, and I have
frequently shot them in Wyoming and the
Northwest. Audubon, who never saw this
bird alive, figured it on the ground (Fig. 1),
notwithstanding what Townsend had written
him about the habits of the bird.

These birds are all western forms, the group
consisting of Dendragapus obscurus and four
subspecies.

The next genus is the genus Canachites,
containing the species C. canadensis and
four subspecies which occur both in the
East and the West.

Bonasa (B. umbellus) follows with four
subspecies, also eastern and western forms.
They are the well-known ruffed grouse (Fig. 2),
the word Bonasa being derived from the
Latin bonasus, which means to bellow, — the
drumming of the ruffed grouse being here
compared with the bellowing of a bull.

Next in order we find the ptarmigans of
the genus Lagopus (Latin), birds so called
for the reason that their densely feathered
feet remind one of the furry feet of the hare.

There are many kinds of ptarmigans in
our country, — all being of alpine or boreal
distribution. One of their chief character-
istics is that they assume a white plumage
in winter. In this genus we find L. lagopus
with three subspecific forms; L. rupestris
with no fewer than seven more; L. evermanni
which is a good example of a ptarmigan, and
is here shown in figure 3. Finally, there is
L. leucurus with its two subspecies.

True prairie chickens belong to the next
genus, namely the genus Tympanuchus, which,
under the species T. americanus, has two
subspecies, while we also have T. pallidi-
cinctus.

Prairie chickens occur both in the East
and the West, and will be fully described
in a future part of the present series. In
the matter of derivation, I may say that
Tympanuchus is badly constructed, being a
combination of both Latin and Greek.

Fig. 2— Prairie Chicke

(Tympanuckus a. americanus) Male. Reproduction of a photograph made by Mr. Geo. E.
Moulthrope of Bristol, Conn., who mounted the specimen.

Tympanum is Latin (tumpanum Gr.), and
means some sort of musical instrument after
the order of a tambourine, or perhaps a
kettle-drum. In anatomy, it has been applied
to the ear drum (tympanum); the latter
syllable of the word is from the Greek and
means: I possess or I have, — the whole
referring to the distensible air-sacs in this
bird, one on either side of the neck. As is
well known, these are featherless and capable
of great expansion; it is with these that the
bird "drums." A good figure of a prairie
chicken of the genus Tympanuchus is here
presented in fig. 2; it is from a photograph
of a mounted specimen, and was presented
to me by Mr. Geo. E. Moulthrope of Bristol,
Connecticut; it is T. americanus.

In some parts of the West, the pin-tail
grouse of the genus Pedicecetes are called
"prairie chickens," especially in the north-
west. In this group there are three sub-
species under P. phasianellus; they are all
western forms and will be described hereafter.
Pedion is the Greek for a plain, and oiketes
(Gr.) for an inhabitant, — hence we have
Pedicecetes as a species of plains-grouse.

Our list of American grouse is completed
by the sage cock or sage hen of the western
plains, — a single species of the genus Centro-
cercus (Gr. Kentron, a prickle or spine, and
Kerkos, tail), which will be fully character-
ized in the concluding part of the present
series,— that is, in Part IV.

To further fix these genera of grouse, the
following table will be found to be of some
assistance: —

Dendragapus: Size large. Not crested.
Well marked naked space on each side of
neck capable of inflation, usually covered
with special, but not conspicuous, feathers.
Feathered to the toes. Tail squarish and
generally composed of 20 feathers, rarely
16 or 22. Wing over 8 inches.

Canachites: Size medium. Sexes somewhat
different. Not crested. No peculiar
feathers on neck or head. Neck without
naked spaces, but skin capable of slight
distention. Colored, bare space over either
eye. Nearly square tail shorter than wing;
feathers stiffish and flat; usually composed
of 16 feathers; very rarely 14 or 18, but

550816

Fig. 3 — Evermann's ptarmigan (Lagopus evermanni). Male, in June.

never over the last number. Full-feathered
tarsi, — that is, feathers to the toes.
Bonasa: Sexes alike. Head full-crested.
Black epaulette on either side of neck,
where the "tympanum" is rudimentary.
Tail and wings of a length, the former
rounded and composed of 18 feathers,
with distal ends truncated. Tarsi naked
below, and otherwise very slightly feath-
ered. Breastmeat white when cooked.
An arboreal, woodland genus. (Said to
be closely allied to the genus Tetrastes of
Europe).

Lagopus: Head and neck plainly feathered.
Tail barely rounded, short, with 14 feath-

ers,— 16, if the long pair of middle feathers
of the upper tail coverts are counted in.
Unfeathered red comb over either eye.
Tarsi and toes heavily feathered. White
in winter.

Tympanuchus: Moderate, soft crest on
head. Tuft of elongated, somewhat pointed
loose feathers on the neck at either side.
Below each of these is the yellow-skin
tympanum, which is bare and capable
of distention to the size of a big lemon.
Tarsi bare posteriorly, but slightly feath-
ered in front and laterally. Toes more or
less webbed at their bases. Short, rounded
tail composed of 18 feathers. Sexes

The American Grouse and Their Identification

243

closely resemble each other. Terrestrial
forms with dark breastmeat.
Pedicecetes: Head moderately crested. No
neck -feather ornaments, and the tympanum
on either side rudimentary, with but
slight change in feathers overlying them.
Crescentic naked patch of peculiar forma-
tion over either eye. Tarsi full-feathered
and the feathers long and hair-like. Tail
shorter than a wing, and composed,
normally, of 18 stiff, pointed feathers,
the center pair softer, squared distally,
and one or more inches longer than the
one next on either side, — the remainder
being graduated. Cock somewhat larger
than hen, otherwise sexes similar.
Centrocercus: Very large species, and the
largest of all American grouse. Air-sacs
of neck large, peculiar in form and situ-
ation, being livid in color, and capable of
extraordinary distention. In the very
long tail, the feathers are narrow and
graduated, being from 18 to 20 in number.
They are likewise stiff and acuminated.
The plumage about the tympanums, re-
markable in kind, structure and arrange-
ment. Tarsi feathered as far as the toes.
Sexes more or less alike in color of plumage;
but the female is not as large as the male,
and differs somewhat in form.
By careful study, use and consideration
of these generic characters, one will meet
with no trouble in referring any American
grouse, at least, to the genus to which it
belongs. To identify a species is another
matter, and to this subject the remaining
three articles of the present series will be
devoted, beginning here with the grouse
included in the genus Dendragapus. (Fig. 1).
This genus contains but one species, —
that is, the famous dusky grouse D. obscurus,
which has a general range, in suitable local-
ities, extending over the Pacific coast regions
and the Rocky Mountains. They may
occur from the upper Mackensie and Yukon
Rivers, south to central Arizona, including
all the mountainous regions of California.
They are dark-colored birds, — hence the
specific name obscurus. At the present
writing, the genus contains four pretty well
marked subspecies, — the type species being
D. o. obscurus of the Rocky Mountain
region, with a range extending from northern
Colorado and Utah to the central regions of
the western parts of Arizona and New
Mexico, westward to Nevada as far as East
Humboldt Mountains.

In varying localities, this bird is known as
the dusky grouse, also the gray or pine
grouse, and the pine hen.

They vary greatly in size, — old males

with a length of 24 inches have been found,
though they average rarely more than 20,
and the hen never over 19. Males have a
wing-extent of 30 inches, — the wing being
9 or 10 inches, and the tail 7 or 8. In weight
they run between 3 and 4 pounds.

Old cocks have a sooty-brown back
showing zig-zag lines, made with fine mark-
ings of bluish gray, shaded with deep ochre,
and with small, white areas on the shoulders.
Flank feathers tipped with white and having
white shaft-stripes. Below, slaty-gray with
some white markings. Sides of head black,
the chin and throat densely speckled with
black and white. The somewhat enlarged
feathers on the side of the neck have black
tips, while their bases are white. The large,
more or less rounded, brownish-black tail
is mottled over with gray, it having a plain
gray terminal band an inch or more wide.
The 20 feathers composing it are broad for
their entire lengths, the whole appendage
being very handsome and striking.

The dusky grouse has a black bill, orange
irides tinged with brown, with the comb
over either eye and tympanums all yellow.

In the smaller hen, the coloration is lighter,
the ochre and white markings being more
varied, though the slate-blue under-parts
and tail-bar are quite distinctive.

Pullets resemble the female, though the
shaft lines of the feathers of the upper parts
are peculiarly marked with white. Tail
with shaft-lines white, enlarging distally;
the feathers occasionally barred transversely
with wavy, blackish bars.

Many sportsmen are familiar with this
big, clumsy grouse, and have called it the
"fool-hen" for the reason that it seems to
have no fear of man whatever. Years ago,
when I met with them in the Rocky Moun-
tains, I noted — as has everyone else who
ever shot a blue grouse — that upon being
flushed, they almost invariably flew up into
one of the tall pines at hand, from which
place it was no trouble to shoot them either
with a rifle or shotgun.

Variations — in the matter of plumage and
other characters which are constant — are
accountable for the defining of the remaining
three subspecies of this bird.

The form that ranges northwesterly through
the coast mountains of California and Oregon
as far as Sitka, Alaska and the South Yukon
region, is known as the sooty grouse (fuligi-
nosus, sooty) or D. o. fuliginosus. This sooty
grouse shades into the dusky grouse (D. o.
obscurus) in Nevada and Idaho, and into
Richardson's grouse (D. o. richarsoni) in
various points in the Rocky Mountains, —
the latter ranging from southwestern Mack-
ensie to eastern Oregon, Montana and Wyom-

244

The Outer's Book

ing. Finally, there is the Sierra grouse,
found from Fort Klamath, Oregon, south
through the mountains of California to
Mount Pinos near Tejon. This subspecies is
the D. o. sierra and was first differentiated
by Mr. Chapman.

A brief table is probably the best way to
present the distinctive plumage differences
characterizing these remaining subspecies of
dark grouse, thus: —

Sooty grouse: Colors darker than in richard-
soni. Tail-bar less broad than in true
obscurus. On the upper parts, the male is
blackish, finely speckled with slate-gray
and reddish-brown. Under parts, dark
slate-color or plumbeous. White mark-
ings on shoulders and flanks very indis-
tinct. Female exhibits still greater differ-
ences, being known at once by her elegant
brown markings of chestnut and rusty
shades. The eggs of all these grouse are
practically indistinguishable.

Richardson's grouse: Closely resembles in
all particulars the true dusky grouse.
However, the tail is generally longer as
well as squarer, having the individual
feathers broader, and the terminal slate-
colored bar very much reduced and often
entirely absent. The throat is blacker,
and the entire bird much darker in its
plumage. (Fig. 1, which Audubon gave
us as the "Dusky Grouse," resembles, in

some respects, Richardson's grouse, espe-
cially in the tail).

Sierra grouse: As stated above, this sub-
species was first described by Mr. Chap-
man and in the following words: "Most
nearly related to Dendragapus obscurus but
the nuchal region oftener browner and
usually vermiculated with black, the
whole dorsal region less black and more
heavily vermiculated with brown and gray;
terminal tail-band narrower and more
speckled with blackish; the median tail-
feathers more heavily marked with gray
or brownish; the scapulars and tertials
with the terminal white wedge less devel-
oped or entirely wanting; the basally
white neck-tufts practically absent; the
throat averaging duskier and the feathers
of the sides, flanks and under tail-coverts
with much less white."

This bird differs from the sooty grouse
"in much paler coloration above, in the
heavier vermiculation of the entire upper
surface, practical absence of neck-tufts,
white throat and paler underparts." (Bull.
Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. XX. Apr. 25, 1904, 159).

It is said that the hens of the sooty, the
dusky and the Sierra grouse, in their breeding
plumage, are hardly to be distinguished
apart. Some few differences, however, are
to be seen in the tails, — the "band" being
wider in the dusky, and the central feathers
being less definitely barred in the Sierra form.

L

Fig. 4 — Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus). Male, at rest (on the right) and drumming. Reproducti
photographs from life by Professor C. F. Hodge. ,

Equality

FROM THE FORELOPER'S POINT OF VIEW

By NELSON M. BLAIR

We found it at last when we rummaged the

place,

Though neglected for many a day,
With a holster so worn it was not worth the

name

And a belt that showed signs of decay.
'Twas like meeting a friend who was long

lost to view

With an outstretched and welcoming hand,
And it brought to remembrance the faces and

scenes
We knew when no man owned the land.

Just a plain forty-five but it seemed like old

times
When I "reached for" and "pulled" it once

more
And its ready response when the "action" I

tried

Showed the same "sudden" traits as of yore.
When the measure of men was their courage

and skill

As the highway of Empire they blazed,
And the "things" that they did in their own

simple way
Made the rest of the world stand amazed.

When a friend was a friend who would see the

thing through
Though the prospect looked slim from the

start,
Whose word was a bond that was not paid in

gold

Nor offered for sale in the mart;
When the courts of Injustice did not hold the

reins

And men had no laws to despise;
When the weak and the strong by a Colt

forty-five

. Were made equal and all of one size.
Who says they are dead? They are living

still

In the hearts of the few who survive.
And their record is written in crimson flame
And signed with a "forty-five."

The American Grouse and Their Identi-
fication

By DR. R. W. SHUFELDT

THE SPRUCE PARTRIDGES: FRANKLIN'S GROUSE AND THE RUFFED GROUSE

PART II.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DRAWINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR

ANY years ago, I pub-
lished, in one of the U. S.
Government Reports, a
very full and illustrated
account of the skeletons
of all of our American
grouse and their allies, and
since, a great many illus-
trated papers and books
on the skeletons of hybrid grouse, turkeys,
pheasants, all the quails, and no end of foreign
species. I have also published the skeletons, or
bones, of not a few fossil species of these groups,
and I have often wondered whether the day
would ever come, when such information, as
I presented in those publications, would
become so generally disseminated that any
intelligent person, interested in our game
birds, could, by a mere glance at any dis-
tinctive bone of any one of them, say off-hand
what that bone was and to which species of
grouse, for example, it belonged. Some of
the bones of the skeleton of some grouse are
very characteristic of the species; and one, at
all familiar with them, could name the species
to which they belonged without a particle
of trouble. For instance, I can distinguish
between the pelves of a ruffed grouse and a
prairie chicken (Tympanuchus) with my eyes
closed, simply by handling them. Were
such information general, my task here,
giving rules and characters for identifying
our American grouse, would be very con-
siderably lightened.

In Part One of the present contribution,
the species and subspecies of but a single
genus of American grouse were treated, with
respect to identification; that is, the dusky
grouse, Dendragapus, and its three sub-
species.

In the A. 0. U. Check List of North
American Birds, the next two genera directly
following Dendragapus are Canachites and
Bonasa, — the first containing the spruce
partridges and Franklin's grouse, and the
second the various forms of the ruffed
grouse. Both these genera, as genera, have
been characterized in Part One.

The species Canachites canadensis or spruce
grouse, is a typical tree grouse occurring, in
suitable localities, in the forests of Canada
and Alaska, as far south as the boundary
of the United States. There are three sub-
species of the bird described by science,
namely the Hudsonian spruce partridge
(C. c. canadensis}, which has a range through-
out the boreal wooded region of the North,
extending from the eastern base of the
Rocky Mountains, westward to Edmonton,
Alberta, east to the Peninsula of Labrador.
It also occurs, in a special limited area, in
Alaska, which entitles it to a place in our
United States avifauna. This area extends
from Bristol Bay to Cook Inlet and Prince
William's Sound. A paler form of this bird,
known as the Alaska spruce grouse (Cana-
chites canadensis osgoodi) is found at Lake
Marsh, Yukon, Northwest Territory, and
has been fully described by Dr. Bishop in
The Auk (XVII. April, 1900, 114); and,
finally, we have the Canada spruce grouse
(C. c. canace).

True canadensis is referred to by a number
of common names, some of which probably
include other forms of Canachites. Some of
these names are: the Canada grouse; black
grouse; wood grouse; spotted grouse; spruce
grouse or partridge; swamp or cedar par-
tridge. Its scientific vernacular name, how-
ever, is, as I say, the Hudsonian spruce
partridge. The adult male, in full plumage,
is slightly crested; but when the crest is
lowered, the head is smooth. Over the eye,
the comb is naked and colored a clear yellow,
changing to a pale red under certain emotions.

In this species, the upper parts are barred
in a wavy fashion with gray and black, with
occasional rufous markings on the wings
and back, which, on the wing-coverts and
shoulders, are replaced by white. Beneath,
the plumage is a shiny black, much variegated
with white; the throat is bounded by white
spots, and some of these occur on the sides
of the head. Breast and sides white-barred,
passing to semi-circles behind. The lower
tail-coverts have the feathers also white-

Fig. 5. — Male (standing) and female Canada spruce grouse (Canachiies c. canact). By the author after Fuertes.

tipped. There are 16 feathers in the black
taU which is slightly rounded, each feather
being uniformly nearly an inch wide. Distally
they are tipped with brownish orange,
the feathers of the upper coverts being
occasionally bordered with gray, often ex-
tending on to the edges for a little distance.

The legs (tarsi) are fully feathered to the
toes, the latter being naked, covered with
scales, and each fringed with a comb-like
growth which is shed and reproduced during
the moult.

An old male of this species, in the breeding
season, appears to one as a black bird,
grayish above, white-spotted beneath, and a
black tail with reddish-brown ends to its
feathers. Total length averages from 15 to
17 inches; a wing 7, and the tail 5? inches, —
the smaller measurements being for the
female bird. In the latter, the black is not
continuous beneath as in the cock, being
replaced by tan and white, especially on the
breast, with white streaks on the flanks.
In fact, the hen of this species is more or
less barred elsewhere with fine, wavy mark-
ings of dull black, giving the tout ensemble of
the plumage a very different appearance
from the male. On the upper part, she
more resembles the cock bird, but is browner,
the ends of the tail feathers more narrowly
edged with brownish-orange, with all of the
feathers more or less banded with buffy

ochre, which bars, or bands, are said to
disappear gradually as the bird ages. Sub-
adults resemble the females, while the chicks
look like those of the ptarmigans with
unfeathered toes.

Students of our grouse will find them
much mixed up in the literature on the
subject; as for example, Ridgway, in his
Manual of North American Birds, bunches
together the genera Dendragapus and Cana-
chites, including them all in the former
genus. Audubon, however, was far less to
be trusted in this matter, for to him all
"spruce grouse" looked alike. In his descrip-
tion of the Canada grouse (Canachites cana-
densis), which, under the rule of those days
he placed in Tetrao, he says in the fifth
volume of his great work "According to
Dr. Richardson, all the thick and swampy
black-spruce forests between Canada and
the Arctic Sea abound with this bird, and
considerable numbers exist in the severest
seasons as high as the 67th parallel. I am
informed by Mr. Townsend that it is also
plentiful on the Rocky Mountains and the
plains of the Columbia, from which parts I
have obtained specimens differing in nothing
from others procured in Maine and Labrador.
I have also compared those in the Edin-
burgh Museum, which Mr. Douglas was
pleased to name Tetrao Franklinii, with
several of my own, and feel perfectly conn-

354

The Outer's Book

dent that they are all of one and the same
species," (p. 87). It may be said that Mr.
David Douglas was eminently correct about
Franklin's grouse being a distinct species,
and he so described it in 1829 in face of the
opposite opinion of such an indifferent
observer of the specific differences in birds
as was Audubon, who was totally incapable
of noting any in the cases of four different
kinds of American grouse now all included
in the genus under consideration, — that is,
the genus Canachites. The idea of one not
being able to see the differences in plumage
between an adult male dusky grouse (Den-
dragapus obscurus) and an adult male
Franklin's grouse (Canachites franklini} , with
the skins of the birds before him! If any
of the sportsmen who read these articles
are of the immense host in the United States,
who believe that Audubon described and
figured all of the birds in North America,
without making a single error of any kind, I
would say that it would be a good thing
to get that erroneous idea out of their heads,
if they ever expect to gain an accurate knowl-
edge of any of our groups of birds, the game
birds included. Audubon did not see, much
less describe and figure, one in fifty of the
birds of North America; the text, figures
and classification of his work are — each and
all — pregnant with errors; and had it not
been for the vastly superior knowledge of
the distinguished Scotch ornithologist, Wil-
liam MacGillivray. — who more than assisted
him, — he would never have been able to
get out the text matter at all. Even Mac-
gillivray did not have the opportunity to
see but a comparatively small part of
Audubon's MSS. before they went to
press, as his work in natural science practi-
cally occupied all his time and prevented
him from doing so. He was, moreover,
born in Aberdeen, and lived and died there.
Most of Audubon's life was spent in this
country.

Of the Canachites canadensis series, I still
have to describe the last subspecific form.
This is the Canada spruce grouse (C. c. canace)
Canace was the daughter of ^Eolus, the
Greek word meaning a noise. Figure 5,
here reproduced, gives a beautiful represen-
tation of the male and female of this bird —
an illustration I obtained by photograph-
ing Plate 41, of Eaton's "Birds of New
York," the original having been made by
Mr. Fuertes.

The Canada spruce grouse ranges through
Manitoba, southern parts of Ontario and
New Brunswick, and, within the boundaries
of the United States, through certain regions
of New England, New York and westward
as far as northern Minnesota. This is the

Tetrao canace of Linnaeus (1766), and the
common Canada grouse of such writers as
Audubon and Coues, which last-named bird
with them includes it. In the case of this
grouse as in others, the females are smaller
than the males, the length for the two being
from 15 to 17 inches. The young are like
the hens.

In this form there are no ruffs on the
neck, neither is the head crested; the usual
bare orange spot is above either eye; legs
(tarsi) are feathered to the toes, which
latter have the horny, comb-like fringe
on their sides referred to above; tail feathers
sixteen.

In the male, the sides and upper parts
are generally wavy, barred with gray and
black. Beneath, mostly clear black, the
feathers being tipped with white; the feath-
ers of the otherwise black tail are also tipped
with a brownish-orange of an ocherous shade.

Eaton describes the female of this species
as taken in New York State, as "quite
uniformly varied with ocherous, gray and
blackish, the gray appearing as a veil cast
over the ocherous and blackish bars; under
parts with white feather tips" (p. 365).
(Fig. 5, the sitting bird).

Finally, we have in this genus the distinct
species Canachites franklini, — Franklin's
grouse. This elegant bird was first discovered
by Lewis and Clark in Idaho in 1805, but
not scientifically named. As above stated,
it was again discovered by David Douglas
in the then territories of Washington and
Oregon, who named it Tetrao franklini after
the distinguished Arctic explorer, Sir John
Franklin. (Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. Vol.
xvi. 1829 p. 139). Both Swainson and
Bonaparte have given us figures of this
species, and Figure 6 of this Part, reproduced
from my own drawing of a male in full
plumage, is another contribution in this
direction.

In all particulars, Franklin's grouse has
the general appearance of the Canada
grouse described above; but in its range, it
is restricted to the central parts of British
Columbia, southern Alaska, and the western
regions of central Alberta. From these
parts it ranges southward through the forest
districts of northern Oregon, central Idaho,
and the forested regions of the western parts
of Montana. Personally, I have shot this
grouse in the extreme lower part of its range
in Montana.

As will be observed in Figure 6. the tail
is relatively — as well as actually — longer
than it is in the Canada grouse, and the
white tips to the broader feathers are very
scant. Moreover, distally, the tail in Frank-
lin's grouse is nearly even, and it lacks the

Fig. 6. — Franklin's grouse (Canachites 'ranklini). Reproduction of a painting made by.^the author.

terminal orange-brown bar. The white tips
to the outer row of feathers of the upper
coverts lend to the superior aspect of the
tail a decided spotted appearance, especially
when the bird is at rest, as shown in Fig. 6.

Having a knowledge of its range and the
above characters, one will have no trouble
in distinguishing a Franklin's grouse of the
genus from the Canada grouse, or, indeed,
from any other Canachites.

Few of our grouse are better known to
our sportsmen than those grouped in the
genus Bonasa, which contains the ruffed
grouse; yet there is not one hunter in a hundred
in this country who_is_aware_of the fact that

we have several sub-species of this elegant
bird.

Bonasa umbellus, owing to the presence
of its peculiar spreading neck-tufts, gets
its specific name from a Latin word having
reference to an umbrella (umbel); note
also umbra a shadow or shade, used in many
senses.

B. umbellus occurs in certain localities
where suitable forests exist, in Alaska and
Canada, and southward to California, Colo-
rado, Kansas and Tennessee. In the East
it is found in the Alleghanies, as far south
as Georgia.

Fig. 7. — Ruffed grouse (B. u. umbellus). Reproduction of a photograph from life by Professor C. F. Hodge.

The type species, B. umbellus umbellus or
the ruffed grouse, ranges over the eastern
United States from southern New York
westward through Michigan and Minnesota.
On the Atlantic side, from southern Vermont
to northern Georgia, including Virginia;
thence westward, we find it in eastern
Kansas, northern Arkansas and Tennessee.
Throughout the New England part of its
range, it is very generally known as the
"Partridge," while in the middle and southern
states, it is everywhere called the "Pheasant."
It has some nine or ten vernacular names,
which are not worth our while to record.
Much confusion would be avoided if the
birds could be called "Ruffed grouse" every-
where, simply stating, as occasion required,
whether the Canada, the Gray, or the
Oregon ruffed grouse was in question.

In Figure 7 of this Part, we have a repro-
duction of a photograph of the ruffed grouse
(B. u. umbellus), taken from life by Professor
C. F. Hodge of Clark College, Worcester,
Massachusetts, who presented it to me.
The bird is seen to be "strutting," and it
doubtless formed the model for Fuertes'
colored figure in Eaton's "Birds of New
York." (Plate 41).

Figure 8 is another of Professor Hodge's
photographs reproduced; it is probably the

same bird (male) "day-dreaming" on a log,
and it is an interesting picture.

Figure 9 gives the skins of various speci-
mens of ruffed grouse, — a cut I obtained by
photography from an illustration in Eaton's
"Birds of New York," (p. 372). It will be
seen that these four grouse skins were taken
as they rested on a plane surface on their
backs. They are of "Bonasa umbellus from
New York State, showing graduation from
B. u. umbellus on the right (Bergen, Genessee
County), to B. u. togata on the left (Upper Au-
sable Lake) . The intermediates are from Sara-
toga County and southern Ontario County."
(Compare also with Fig. 2 of Part I). These
birds produce their "drumming" by rapidly
whirring their wings, neither of the latter coming
in contact with anything. Most of the ruffed
grouse I have shot were met with in New
England (Conn.) and were B. umbellus,
wherein the upper parts are variegated with
grayish or reddish brown, which, on the
back, is spotted all over with pale, oblong,
black-edged spots. The under parts are
more or less white and transversely barred
with pale brown. The brown or gray tail is
tipped with the latter color, and is otherwise
marked with many transverse, narrow, black
bars, the sub-terminal broad one being also
black. At the neck, the "ruffs" are either

Fig. 8. — Ruffed grouse (B. u. umbellus). Reproduction of a photograph from life by Professor C. F. Hodge.

black or brownish black, being smaller and
browner in the hen. In the male, it has a
steel-blue or dark greenish iridescence.
'"'With this description before one and
knowing the range — taken in connection
with the cuts presented — almost anyone
would be able to identify a ruffed grouse. —
that is, Bonasa u. umbellus. This says
nothing for the subspecies — that's another
affair — and we will take those up at the
close of the article. Before doing so, how-
ever, it will be of interest to cite a few obser-
vations of other ornithologists upon the type
species now being considered.

Wilson, who gives a long and very inter-
esting account of this bird, says "Dr. Turton
and several other English writers, have
spoken of a Long-tailed Grouse, said to
inhabit the back parts of Virginia, which
can be no other than the present species,
there being, as far as I am acquainted, only
these two,, the Ruffed and Pinnated grouse
found native within the United States."

At the present writing, there are between
thirty and forty kinds known, which includes
the Alaskan forms.

As part of a very accurate description,
Wilson further says, "The Pheasant, or
Partridge, of New England, is eighteen
inches long, and twenty-three in extent;
bill, a horn color, paler below; eye, reddish
hazel, immediately above which is a small
spot of bare skin, of a scarlet color; crested;

head and neck variegated with black, red,
brown, white, and pale brown; sides of the
neck furnished with a tuft of large, black
feathers, twenty-nine or thirty in number,
which it occasionally raises; this tuft covers
a large space of the neck destitute of feathers;
***** the legs are covered half
way to the feet with hairy down of a brownish
white color; legs and feet pale ash; toes
pectinated along the sides; the two exterior
ones joined at the base, as far as the first
joint, by a membrane; vent yellowish rust
color."

Ridgway, who describes the downy young,
etc., gives the length as 15.50 to 19 inches,
(Manual, p. 197) or an inch more than
Wilson's measurement. We know that the
hen is considerably smaller than the cock
bird. He further states in the same place
that in the female "the neck- tufts are
rudimentary or obsolete."

Coues, in the last edition (5th, p. 741) of
his "Key," agrees with Wilson in the size
of B. umbellus and says, among other things,
"Young of both sexes sufficiently resemble
the adults to be unmistakable, and detailed
description of every feather would be tedious
and profitless. Chicks in down are very
pretty, being of various buff shades deepen-
ing on some parts into chestnut, with a black
stripe on each side of the head. There is a
sort of dichromatism in this species, somewhat
like that of the red and gray Megascops owls,

358

The Outer's Book

some individuals being browner, others
grayer, than the average; but this is irre-
spective of age, sex, season or locality, does
not in the least correspond with the pre-
tended geographical distribution of the sub-
species togata, which some late grouse-
fanciers have sought to establish, and I
cannot imagine myself humoring such a
whim in the "Key." We have quite enough
to do in making out umbelloides to be sub-
specifically different."

Eaton, in the "Birds of New York" (p. 367)
states, "This species, like the Screech Owl,
exhibits a kind of dichromatism, some
specimens having a prevailing rufous, or
reddish brown color of the upper parts,
especially the tail, and others a prevailing
gray, which is not by any means confined
to the subspecies togata, but is exhibited by
southern birds as well, both types of color
often occurring in the same brood." This
offsets what Coues had to say about B. u.
togata, and properly so. Coues, in giving
his description of birds, was only too often
influenced by his moods.

Audubon tells us that the "drumming" of
the ruffed grouse is produced as it "beats
its sides with its wings in the manner of the
domestic cock, but more loudly, and with
such rapidity of motion, after a few of the
first strokes, as to cause a tremor in the air
not unlike the rumbling of distant thunder."
I was under the impression that "a tremor"
was a vibratory movement, and not a noise
of any kind.

Audubon is much nearer the truth when
he states, in regard to the ruffed grouse, that
"A remarkable difference of plumage is
observed in specimens from the opposite
parts of the continent, those from the eastern
districts being invariably much greyer,
especially on the tail-feathers, than those
procured along the Ohio, or in Virginia.
These constant differences have tempted
some persons to suppose that we have two
nearly allied species, instead of one; but
after the closest examination of all their
parts, as well as of their habits, I never
could find anything tending to support this
supposition." (Vol. v. p. 81).

I have already given above the range of
B. u. umbellus, and the following are the ranges
of the three remaining subspecies as given
by the A. 0. U. "Check-List" (1912).

Bonasa umbellus togata. Canada Ruffed
Grouse. — "Range : Central Keewatin, south-
ern Ungava, and Nova Scotia south to
Manitoba, southern Michigan, northern
Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine,
and in the mountains of New York, western

Massachusetts, and northern Connecticut;
birds indistinguishable from the eastern
form occur from east central British Colum-
bia south to eastern Oregon and central
Idaho.

Bonasa umbellus umbelloides. Gray Ruffed
Grouse. — "Range: Norton Sound, Alaska,
east to central Yukon and west central
Mackensie, and south to northern Utah,
northern Colorado, and western South
Dakota."

Bonasa umbellus sabini. Oregon Ruffed
Grouse.— "Range: Coast ranges from south-
ern Alaska to Humboldt County, Cali-
fornia."

It must be remembered and distinctly
understood that these three subspecies, at
their limited boundaries of their several
ranges, by insensible degrees shade into
each other, which statement includes B.
umbellus umbellus. On this point Eaton
remarks, "It is impossible to draw definitely
the boundary between the ruffed grouse proper
(umbellus') and the Canadian ruffed grouse
(tagota), as there is a continual gradation
from the birds of southern New York to
those of the Adirondack forests, which are
certainly of the subspecies togata. Birds from
the highlands of eastern and western New
York are intermediate between the two"
("Birds of New York," p. 367). (See Fig. 9).

Ruffed grouse from the Adirondacks are
typical of the Canada ruffed grouse (B. u.
togata) and they are of the same size as
umbellus. They are much darker in color, —
particularly is it to be noticed that the
transverse barring of the parts beneath are
so. These markings are dusky across the
breast, passing to black as we pass over the
flanks on either side. All the edgings of
the feathers in these localities are black or
blackish. Above, the bird inclines to be
grayish, the upper part of the tail being, in
fact, a clear gray color.

Coues, in describing the plumage of the
gray ruffed grouse (B. u. umbelloides) says
of the male bird, "Lower back, rump, upper
tail-coverts and tail slate-gray, with little
if any brown tinge; the feathers of the back
and rump with light gray cordate or arrow-
headed spots, narrowly bordered with black;
tail-feathers finely vermiculated with black,
and with a broad, subterminal black zone.
Ruffle glossy greenish-black. Under parts
whitish, more or less tinged with tawny-brown,
with several broad brown cross-bars on each
feather, largest and most distinct on long
feathers of sides, some of -which have also
white shaft -lines; heavy feathers of flanks
and vent mostly whitish, unmarked. Feath-

Fig. 9. — Skins of Bonasa (umbellus and tngata). By the author after Eaton.

ers of fore-neck and scapulars blended with
gray, rich reddish-brown, ochrey-brown, and
white in indescribable confusion. Most of
the wing-coverts with white shaft-lines. Hen
with ruffle less developed varied with
brown and white. General tone more rufous
than in the cock." ("Key." 5th Edition,
pp. 742, 743.)

The Oregon ruffed grouse is named for
J. Sabine, B. umbellus sabini, and its dis-
covery and rediscovery by David Douglas
is interesting in American grouse history,

but has little to do with up to date indenti-
fication.

This subspecies more closely resembles
B. u. umbellus, but the brown shades in it
are darker and more extensive than in the
latter form. In fact, the color is more ele-
gant and far richer. In some parts of the
plumage it approaches a chestnut shade,
glossy and handsome, which passes to black-
ish in the browns. These are only the typical
examples, however, from the center of the
range, as pointed out above.

Time Wrought Modifications of the Hunt-
ing Knife

By R. A. KANE
PART II

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS AND DRAWINGS.

another occasion I was
still-hunting in the edge of
the green wood which
marked the limits of the
broad expanse of burnt
district. It was good
deer country, and I was
momentarily expecting to
get a standing shot or to
see the flash of white that would be the
signal for action on my part. While step-
ping cautiously along and peering care-
fully in every direction, I was suddenly
startled by the vicious crack of a high power
rifle on my left and seemingly but a few rods
distant. Instinctively I sprang forward to
the inviting shelter of the trunk of a green
hemlock, placing it between me and the
direction from which the sound had come.
The reason for my sudden and unpremeditated
action will be clear to those of our readers
who will remember that there is no . closed
season on hunters in Wisconsin and Michigan.
I stood edgewise to the trunk of the tree,
hugging it closely. As soon as my wits were
in working order, I yelled lustily, though
nervously to apprise the shooter of my prox-
imity. He answered promptly with the
woodsman's hail (a full mouthed call) ending
with a clear far sounding whoop. In less than
a minute the invisible hunter emerged from
behind a cluster of young balsams, and as

A YOUNG HUNTER'S KNIFE, WITH HANDLE OF
LEG BONE FROM FAWN

he approached said, "Guess you jumped him
for me."

" 'Jue get him?"

"Sure."

"Bully for you," and together we walked
a distance of about fifty yards to where a
fine young buck lay with a .30-30 through
his neck.

"Got him standin' when he was listening
on his back track" explained the stripling
hunter.

It was a mild November day and as he
wore no coat, I noticed that lie apparently
carried neither belt or hunting knife, and
that his supply of cartridges was carried
in the hip pocket of his mackinaw trousers
in the original card-board box. Resting his
rifle against a convenient tree he proceeded
to dress his game with the most unique
specimen of cutlery that was ever carried
by a .sportsman. The blade was shaped like
that of a cobbler's knife, exactly like the ones
we have seen used by the spectacled village
shoemaker to trim the sole, and which was
sharpened ever and anon on a fragment of
coarse grindstone, or a sheet of sandpaper,
tacked to his work bench. The young hunter's
blade was less than three inches in length,
its back straight, and the edge curved sharply
from handle to point. A strong tang about
equal in length to the blade was left for the
handle, and upon this was tightly driven
about 3£ inches of the leg bone of a fawn,
the enlargement at the joint forming a sort
of natural guard for the hand. As he pro-
ceeded with the work of dressing his game,
I watched him with considerable interest as
I was curious to know what sort of a job
could be done with such an inferior looking
tool. He first made a small incision at the
throat, not longer than the width of his
blade, then cutting latterly under the skin,
he severed the jugular, windpipe and gullet.
After neatly circling the vent of the body
with the slender point of his knife, he made
an incision about five inches long extending
back from the navel, then inserting his fore-
arm into the opening thus made, with a few
dexterous cuts of his short blade, the dia-
phragm and other natural adhesions were cut
away, while heart, liver, lungs, as well as
the baser parts were easily withdrawn, from
front and rear. When assisting my young
friend to hang the deer for drainage, I noticed
that there was scarcely a stain on the beauti-
full snow white hair of the under parts, and
there was practically none of the meat ex-
posed to tempt, either predatory birds or
animals. I had learned something new about
the hunting knife.

Notwithstanding the countless number of
hunting knives manufactured by our great

Fig. 10. Willow ptarmigan or grouse (L. 1. lagopus.) Male bird standing; female sitting with chicks. Repro-
duction of a photograph made by the author of Audubon's plate.

The American Grouse and Their Identi-
fication

By DR. R. W. SHUFELDT

PTARMIGANS, PRAIRIE CHICKENS AND THE HEATH HEN
PART III

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DRAWINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR

F we regard such birds
as Richardson's, Frank-
lin's and the ruffed grouse
which were considered in
Parts I and II of the
present article, as true
grouse, then the genus of
birds first to be dealt
with here, namely the
ptarmigans of the genus Lagopus, form very
distinct departures from our type forms.
As a matter of fact, it has only been through

custom that we have regarded such a species
as the ruffed grouse to be a true game bird
called grouse, and the ptarmigans — forms
considerably away from such an elected
standard — are hardly entitled to that sort
of distinction. In reality, however, a ptarmi-
gan is just as true a tetraonine bird— even
to the minutest structural detail — as the
finest ruffed grouse that ever flushed from
cover, or the best cock "prairie chicken" that
pointer ever put up on a prairie.

The late Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe in his

Fig. 11. Rock ptarmigan (Lagopus r. rupestris). White one in background, male in winter; the one looking back
is a female in summer plumage; the bird in front of her "young in August." Reproduction of a photograph made
by the author of Audubon's plate.

"Handlist of Birds" gives the ptarmigans
(Lagopus) the leading place in the family
Tetraonida, enumerating 14 species of them,
11 of which occur in America, and the others
in Europe and Asia, — the type, or willow-
ptarmigan (L. lagopus), ranging through
the northern part of the Northern Hemi-
sphere, and consequently is common to both
continents.

In some localities, these ptarmigans are
known as snow grouse, as they are of both
boreal and alpine distribution, and in moun-
tain ranges where they occur are found
above the snow-line. In general form they
resemble the spruce grouse of the genus
Canachites, and probably are most nearly
related to them.

Ptarmigans have three moults during the
year, the summer plumage being different
in some species in the two sexes. Our forms
in winter are pure white, some species
having a black tail and a black stripe from
bill to eye on either side. (Fig. 11). In
shedding their feathers, which is often fre-
quent and rapid, they even shed the horny
coverings to the claws, — a process that
happens periodically. In summer they
exhibit a great variety of mottled patterns
of plumage, black, browns and white pre-
vailing, with various tawny shades. In all
save one species, the subadults shed their
brown flight-feathers, which are replaced by
white ones, and these and many other
plumage changes in this genus of grouse
render the matter of color alone a somewhat
unreliable character in specific distinctions.

Coues remarks: "The word ptarmigan,
with an unexplained initial p, dating back
over 200 years, is from the Gaelic tarmachan,
supposed to mean mountaineer, and was
earlier spelled termigant, termagant, etc."

We have a long list of ptarmigans in the
avifauna of North America, and some of the
subspecies are confined to very limited
areas. In the matter of their appearance
and habits they are much alike, so we can
afford to slight quite a number of them,
simply making a note of their names and
existence.

According to the A. O. U. "Check List,"
their ranges are as follows:

Lagopus lagopus: Range — Northern part of
the Northern Hemisphere.

L. 1. lagopus: Willow ptarmigan. Range —
Arctic regions. In America breeds from
northern Alaska, northern Banks Land,
and central Greenland south to eastern
Aleutian Islands, central Mackensie (in
the mountains to west central Alberta),
central Keewatin, James Bay, and southern
Ungava; south in winter to northern
British Columbia, Saskatchewan Valley,
Minnesota, Ontario and Quebec; accidental
in Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Maine
and Massachusetts.

L. 1. alleni: Allen's ptarmigan. Range —
Newfoundland.

L. I. alexandre: Alexander's ptarmigan.
Range — Barranoff and adjacent islands
west to Shumagin Islands.

The American Grouse and How to Distinguish Them 467

L. I. ungavus: Ungava ptarmigan. Range—
Ungava and probably the eastern shore of
Hudson Bay.

Lagopus rupestris: Range — Northern North
America and Greenland.

L. r. rupestris: Rock ptarmigan. Range —
Arctic America. Breeds from Melville
Island to Melville Peninsula and south on
the Barren Grounds from Alaska to Ungava;
also on alpine summits south to central
Yukon; south in winter to southern Massa-
chusetts and southern Ungava.

L. r. reinhardti: Reinhardt's ptarmigan.
Range — Northern extremity of Ungava,
western Cumberland Sound, and Green-
land.

L. r. nclsoni: Nelson's ptarmigan. Range—
Unalaska, Akutan and Unimark Islands,
Aleutian Islands.

L. r. atkhensis: Turner's ptarmigan. Range
— Atka, one of the Aleutian Islands,
Alaska.

L. r. lownsendi: Townsend's ptarmigan.
Range — Kiska, one of the Aleutian Islands,
Alaska.

L. r. chamberlaini: Adak ptarmigan. Range

. — Adak, one of the Aleutian Islands,
Alaska.

L. r. dixoni: Dixon's ptarmigan. Range—
Islands near Sitka, Alaska.

Lagopus evermanni: Evermann's ptarmigan.
Range— Attu, one of the Aleutian Islands,
Alaska.

Lagopus welchi: Welch's ptarmigan.
— Newfoundland.

Range

Lagopus leucurus: Range — Mountains of
Alaska and British Columbia, south in the
Rocky Mountains to New Mexico.
L. I. leucurus: White-tailed ptarmigan.
Range — Rocky mountains from northern
British Columbia and central Alberta
south to Vancouver Island, Washington,
north-western Montana, Colorado, and
northern New Mexico.

L. 1. peninsularis: Kenai White-tailed ptar-
migan. Range — Alpine summits from
central Alaska, northern Yukon, and north-
western Mackensie south to Cook Inlet
region, Kenai Peninsula, and southern
Yukon.

At certain seasons of the year many of
our sportsmen hunt through Newfoundland,
various parts of the Dominion of Canada,
and in Alaska, including several of its off-
lying islands. During such trips', they are
likely to meet with snow grouse or ptarmigan,
and if they obtain any of them, they are
naturally desirous of knowing their names
or the species they may represent.

By consulting the RANGES given in the
above list, quite a number of these ptarmi-
gans can be identified at once from their
habitats, — that is, at this writing; for, later
on, other species or subspecies may be
discovered in one or more of the same
habitats. However, if one now shoots a
ptarmigan in Newfoundland, he may be

the author from the plate in Nelson's Report

nelsoni); male in spring. Reproduction of a photograph made by

468

The Outer's Book

sure that he has a specimen of Allen's ptar-
migan; or one in Atka, a Turner's ptarmigan,
and so on to the end of the list. It will not
be necessary for me, then, to give the plum-
ages or other differential specific characters
of all these birds, and I shall confine myself
to a few of those of more general distribu-
tion which may occur within the boundaries
of the United States, exclusive of Alaska,
touching very lightly upon some of the forms.

In the winter time, in certain localities,
one might meet with the willow grouse or
ptarmigan in the northeastern part of the
country, but never south of northern New
York. It has also occurred in Minnesota.
(Fig. 10). The bird has several common
names, though it is usually called a willow
or a white grouse.

As in all ptarmigans, its feet are fully
feathered, and there is no black stripe
between the bill and eye. In winter the
plumage is pure white with black white-
tipped tail which is composed of 14 feathers.
Several of the outer flight-feathers of the
wings have black shafts, those of the second-
aries being white. In the summer time,
when, the plumage of this species is not
white, no detailed description will answer for
all the plumages it assumes, as they vary
so with sex and age. Nevertheless, there
can be no trouble in identifying a willow
grouse in any of these stages.

Males in the summer time have the head
and fore-parts of an elegant rich chestnut,
designated by some as an orange-brown.
This becomes tawny on the back, rump and
beyond, — the whole being more or less
thickly barred with black. For the most
part, the wings and all the plumage below
remains white. During the spring and
autumn, as these changes go on, the bird
has a pied plumage which fits no special
description. Females have only the white
and is lighter colored than the male, the
black barring being more uniform, closer
and heavier.

Length, 15-17 inches; wing, 7.5 to 8, and
tail about 5£ inches. Chicks of this species
are truly beautiful little birds, several of
them being here shown in Figure 10.

Wilson, apparently, never met with any
of our ptarmigan or snow grouse, and there-
fore does not mention them in his work.

Audubon, who could find no differences
in our several forms of ruffed grouse (Part II),
seemed to think — in fact did think— that
our willow ptarmigan, or some other species
found in the Old World, were entirely differ-
ent birds, and consequently named ours the
American ptarmigan (Lagopus americanus);
whereas— as nearly every one knew at the
time — the birds are identical. In fact, Audu-

bon tangled- up the rock ptarmigan, the
present species, and his American ptarmigan
in the most remarkable manner with L.
scoticus and L. mutus! He could not even
trust his own figures; for he says in Vol. V
of his work: "At the same time, after due
consideration, I am satisfied that the bird
figured by me is not the Common Ptarmigan,
although it presents all the characters of the
Rock Grouse or Ptarmigan. It is less than
the Scotch Ptarmigan, and its wings are
much shorter, and even more concave; and
in these respects it corresponded with the
other two specimens, [loaned him by the
Earl of Derby], which, however, had the
plumage pure white, with the exception of
the tail-feathers and the shafts of the prim-
aries. I have therefore named this bird, as
a species distinct from either, Lagopus Ameri-
canus." (Pp. 119, 120). The birds he
examined in the Museum of the Andersonian
Institution marked "Lagopus vulgaris, Ptar-
migan, Melville's Island," and which he
claimed to be his Lagopus americanus, were
evidently nothing of the kind, but at least
one of them — and perhaps all — -were rock
ptarmigans (L. rupestris rupestris), for he
says himself that they had a "black band
extending from the bill to the eye and behind
it," — and this is a distinguishing character
of the rock ptarmigans, and is not found in
the willow grouse (Fig. 11). So far as I am
aware, this error has not been published
before, and it is pointed out here in order
that students of Audubon — many of whom
believe that he never made any mistakes —
may avoid unnecessary labor in demon-
strating them.

An authority at hand says that in Allen's
ptarmigan "both secondaries and primaries
black-shafted, and these and some of the
coverts marked on their webs with blackish,"
— otherwise the bird is like the willow grouse.

Coming next to the rock ptarmigan
(L. rupestris), (Fig. 11), with its seven sub-
species, we have a series of birds that do not
normally come within the boundaries of
the United States proper, and can only claim
places in our avifauna for the reason that
they all, with the exception of Reinhardt's
ptarmigan, occur in various parts of Alaska
and her off-lying islands.

In the white winter plumage, the rock
ptarmigan is like the willow grouse, with the
above-mentioned difference that there is, in
the former, a black stripe from the bill
through the eye on either side. Rock ptar-
migans also have a slenderer bill than do
willow grouse. Sometimes the female lacks
the black stripe through the eye, and both
sexes are, respectively, smaller than the male
and female of lagopus.

Fig. 13. White-tailed ptarmigan (Lagopus I. leucurus). Male and female in winter plumage. Reproduction of a
drawing made by the author. Sexes alike.

Length from thirteen to fourteen and
three-quarter inches.

When the summer plumage is complete,
the sexes are, in the main, alike again.
Apart from the wings and tail it is barred
with dusky brown and ochre in coarse, wavy
markings, being blotched on the dorsum.
Males, beneath, white.

This bird gets its specific name from the
Latin rupis, a rock, — rupestrine, — -hence ru-
pestris.

Coues, who seemed to fail to appreciate
the subspecific and constant characters of
some of the American ptarmigans, says,
when speaking of the range of the rock
ptarmigan, "supposed not to occur from
N. Labrador northward, that region being
prudently reserved for L. r. reinhardti;
allowed on those Aleutian Islands which are
not reserved by the classifiers for some other
Rock Ptarmigan." Coues was never in the
parts of the country of which he speaks,
while the ptarmigan of the last A. O. U.
"Check-List" have been accepted every-
where in the world, and compared by a great
many expert ornithologists. Even Coues
himself in his "Key" admits Reinhardt's,
Nelson's, Turner's, Townsend's, Welch's and
Evermann's ptarmigans!

Fig. 12, illustrating the present Part,
gives a male Nelson's ptarmigan in full
spring plumage. This figure appears as
Plate X. in the government work entitled
"Report upon Natural History Collections
made in Alaska between the years 1877 and
1881 by Edward W. Nelson" (Washington,
D. C., 1887), from which I photographically
copied it. That excellent report contains
detailed descriptions of the habits and vari-
ous plumage changes, at all seasons, of the
willow ptarmigan, the rock ptarmigan, Nel-
son's and Turner's ptarmigan. Another
government report (1886), "Contributions
to the Natural History of Alaska," by L. M.
Turner, gives additional information on these
three grouse with colored Plates (III. and
IV.), of the male and female of Turner's
ptarmigan.

Reinhardt's rock ptarmigan agrees with
the rock ptarmigan; but the male of the
former in summer is "less regularly and more
finely barred above on a grayish brown
ground." (Coues).

Female Nelson ptarmigans cannot be dis-
tinguished from true rupestris; the males in
summer have the plumage above finely
vermiculated with black on a deep umber-
brown ground, while the lower parts are the

470

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same, except that the ground-color is of a
tawny shade, — a few black feathers being
interspersed.

So it goes with other subspecies of these
birds, and even the scientific ornithologists
can easily be misled and make mistakes in
identifying the majority of these snow grouse.
So it will be just as well to remember the
caution of, Mr. D. G. Elliot in his "Game
Birds of "North America," when he says,
"Comparisons of ptarmigans should be made
between individuals not only from the same
locality, but also taken in the same month,
if possible the same day, for these perplexing
birds, beirg in a constant state of moult, a
few days difference in their time of capture
exhibits much change in their appearance,
and one who has not studied them carefully
with sufficient material, could easily be led
to form an erroneous opinion regarding the
status of a subspecific or even a specific
form."

As I have said above, Welch's ptarmigan
is a well-marked species of Newfoundland,
and Evermann's ptarmigan of Attu, Alaska,
is different from any of the foregoing forms
(see Fig. 3, Part I.). It is found only upon
the Island of Attu.

Grinnell, in describing Dixon's ptarmigan,
says that it resembles Nelson's in the cor-
responding plumage, but is much darker;
"in extreme blackness of coloration nearly
like Lagopus evermanni, but the feathers of
chest and back more or less finely vermicu-
lated with hazel."

The Adak ptarmigan (L. r. chamberlaini)
differs but slightly from Townsend's ptarmi-
gan.

We have a very distinct species in the
white-tailed ptarmigan or the Rocky Moun-
tain snow grouse (L. leucurus leucurus) which
I here portray in Fig. 13, drawn from speci-
mens in the collections of the U. S. National
Museum. There is no difficulty in recognizing
this bird — specimens of which have been sent
me in the flesh from Colorado by Mr. Robert
B. McLeod of Leadville — it being rearer
mutus of the Old World than it is to our rock
ptarmigan. Both the male and the female
are pure white in winter. In summer,
the white persists in the lower part of the
breast, the wings and the tail white, the
remainder of the plumage — differing some-
what in nearly every specimen — is minutely
variegated with grayish, brown, tan, and
black and white.

There is but one good subspecies known
of the white-tailed ptarmigan, namely the
Kenai white-tailed ptarmigan of Alaska as
given above. Mr. Chapman, who first de-
scribed this form (Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist,
xvi, 1902, 236), says, "nuptial plumage

differs from corresponding phase of plumage
of L. leucurus in having the black areas of

Greater extent, the buff areas much paler,
n fall, transition or "preliminary" plumage
differs from similarly plumaged specimens
of L. leucurus in being decidedly grayer."

This is all I intend to say here about our
ptarmigans or snow grouse. Sportsmen will
appreciate — from what I have collected
together for them above — that they are a
very difficult group of birds to study,
especially to indentify the many forms of
them in the great and puzzling differences
of the plumages, particularly when taking
the two sexes, the seasons and ages into
consideration. However, there is a good
insight into the group given here, which,
with a knowledge of their distribution —
also given — and the figures presented, ought
to assist almost any one interested in our
grouse to make a correct identification; if it
does this much, my labor will not have been
in vain.

We next have to deal with an elegant
genus of American grouse, the genus Tym-
panuchus. known to hunters everywhere as
the prairie hens or prairie chickens. There
are, in the United States, three species of
these, with two subspecies included in the
first one. In the A. O. U. "Check-List"
they are arrayed thus:

Tympanuchus americanus: Range — Central
North America from southern central
Canada south to northern Texas to east
(formerly) Ohio.

Tympanuchus americanus americanus: Prai-
rie chicken. Range — Southeastern Saskat-
chewan and southern Manitoba to eastern
Colorado, northeastern Texas, Arkansas,
western Kentucky, and Indiana; probably
extinct east of Indiana, but formerly
reached southwestern O.itario, Michigan,
and northwestern Ohio.

TympuniH'hus amrricunus atlwateri: Att-
water's Prairie Chicken. Range — -Coast
region of Texas and southwestern Louisiana.

Tympanuchus cupido: Heath Hen. Range —
Island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachu-
setts. Formerly southern New England
and parts of the Middle States.

TympatmcktU pallidicinctus: Lesser prairie
chicken. Range — Great plains, from Kan-
sas south to west central Texas.

The deriviation and meaning of the word
Tympanuchus has already been given in
I'art I of this series; the meaning of ameri-
(iintis is self-evident, and attwatcri is for
Mr. H. P. Attwater, to whom Bendire
dedicated the subspecies.

Fig. 14. Prairie Chicken (Tympanuckus «. americe**s). Two males contesting for female, the latter with head
pressed against the ground. Xote that she has no crest or neck-tufts. Reproduction of a photograph made by the
author of Audubon's plate.

Cupido suggests the wings of the conven-
tional cupid, which are here likened to the
feather-tufts on the necks of all birds of
this genus. For pallidicinctus we have the
Latin pallidus,- pale or pallid, and cinctus,
encircled, begirdled or begirt, and bestowed
upon this species by Ridgway, probably for
the reason that in its plumage he saw a
pallid girdle of some kind, as expressed in
this part of his description of the bird:
"Darker bars of back and rump, treble,
consisting of a perfectly continuous brown
bar enclosed between two narrower black
bars; darker bars of sides and flanks .25,
or less, wide, bicolored. the broader light -
brown bar being enclosed between two
narrower dusky ones." (Manual, p. 203).

In 1S(>8. when I hunted in Illinois, the
prairie hens were fairly abundant in that
state, and 1 shot them within two miles of
the city of Omaha, Nebraska, in Is7',i.
(Fig. 14).

Typical americanus has been described by
a great many ornithologists and popular
writers; and, as the colors and arrangement
of the pattern of the plumage are very
variable and complicated, thes^ descrip-
tions are, in most instances, quite different.

As Audubon said of this species, "T.cupido"1
that "The female is considerably smaller,
and wants the crest, cervical tufts, and
air-bags, but in other respects resembles the
male" (Vol. v., p. 105), — a statement of
which more than half is utterly erroneous, as
the female has both crest and tufts, so we
need not consider his idea of the bird at all.
His long account of this grouse refers to T.
americanus and not to T. cupido, as he has it,
for it is based on Kentucky specimens, although
he collected both species. Audubon, assisted
by "several negroes," used to bag dozens of
them at night just for the sake of "amuse-
ment." (loc. cit., p. 98).

Wilson also gives us a long account of the
"Pinnated Grouse, — Tetrao cupido" which
he illustrated with a figure of a male, drawn
from a specimen taken in the "Barrens of
Kentucky." In his day (1810) the bird was
common around Oyster Bay, Huntington,
Islip, etc., on Long Island and in New Jersey,
etc. He also says of this bird — which is
the present Heath Hen (T. cupido} of Martha's
Vineyard, Mass. — "The female is consider-
ably less; of a lighter color, destitute of the
neck wings, the naked, yellow skin on the
neck, and the semi-circular comb of yellow

472

The Outer's Book

over the eye." (Amer. Ornithol. Brewers' ed.
1852, p. 264).

Ridgway, in his "Manual," (1887) gives
the "Common characters" of the genus
Tympanuchus on p. 202; and although he
does not there mention the cervical air-sacs
of those grouse as a character, we do find
the following: "Adult male: Sides of neck
with an erectile tuft of rather stiff elongated
feathers, the longest of which are 2.50 or
more in length; * * Adult female: Neck
tufts rudimentary, the longest feathers not
more (usually much less) than 2.00 in length."

This covers americanus, cupido and palli-
dicinctus, — that is, in all of these grouse, the
females possess "neck-tufts," which may be
at least two inches in length, — Audubon and
Wilson to the contrary.

With respect to the plumage, Ridgway, in
giving the common characters of Tympa-
nuchus, says, "Above brownish, barred
(sometimes spotted also) with dusky and
buff; beneath white broadly barred or banded
with brown; quills brownish gray, their
outer webs spotted with buff or whitish;
chin, throat and cheeks buff, the last marked
with a cluster of brown or dusky spots; a
dark brown stripe on side of head, from
corner of mouth beneath eye and across
upper part of ear-coverts; above this a buff
stripe, interrupted above the eye," — and, in
characterizing americanus, "Darker bars of
back 'and rump single, very broad, solid
black; brown bars on sides and flanks .30 or
more wide, unicolored."

The sexes are nearly alike, the male being
the larger, of the following measurements:
Length, 16 to 18 inches; extent, 28; wing, 8
to 9 inches; tail, about 4|. Modern writers
have been very full in describing the length,
number and form of the neck-tufts in Tympa-
nuchus; but not one of them states— so far
as I can find — what the color of them is.
Wilson, in his quaint way, says of these,
"the neck is furnished with supplemental
wings, each composed of eighteen feathers,
five of which are black, and about three
inches long; the rest shorter, also black,
streaked laterally with brown, and of unequal
lengths." (T. americanus: Kentucky).

Ridgway says that in the heath hen (T.
cupido) the "neck-tufts of adult male com-
posed of not more than ten lanceolate,
pointed feathers," and in the lesser prairie
hen (T. pallidicinctus) , "Neck-tufts of adult
male with feathers broad and rounded at
tips, as in T. americanus."

A good-sized prairie hen weighs about 3|
pounds — -the smaller subspecies less.

Bendire's description of Attwater's prairie
chicken (T. a. attwateri) found on the coast
region of Texas and southwestern Louisiana,
will be found in Forest and Stream (xi, No. 20,
May 18, 1893, 425). They occur in Refugio
Co., it being a form that comes very close
to americanus.

I will conclude what I have to say about
the prairie chickens of this genus in the next
Part, — that is Part IV., which will finish
this series.

Wop Henderson Has the Floor

By H. A. SCOTFORD

LD Grimes was attending
to the wants of a snub
nosed urchin who wished
four cents worth of oat
meal and the rest of the
dime in vinegar, Snog
Porter was sorting flies
out of the dried currants
as he ate therefrom, Wop
Henderson was trying his knife on the
cheese and Sammy Green was transferring
the larger portion of the poor box to his

pocket, when the door flew open and in
popped Tamarack Jones, his eyes fairly
bursting from their sockets as he tried to
surround his vanished wind and tell his news
at one and the same time.

"Wolves! Wolves!" he strangled out, and
in the ensuing excitement Sammy took a
chew of sawdust from the egg crate, Snog
threw currants on the floor and ate six flies,
Wop shaved a sliver from the cheese box
and started to chew it and Grimes carefully
tied the vinegar into a paper sack.

Fig. 15. Male of heath hen (Tym

npanuchus cupido). Drawing by T. W. Wood. Photographically copied byTthe
author from Darwin's "The Descent of Man."

The American Grouse and Their Identi-
fication

By DR. R. W. SHUFELDT

PRAIRIE CHICKENS (Concluded). SHARP-TAILED GROUSE; SAGE HEN

PART IV.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DRAWINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR

continue my descrip-
tions of prairie chickens
of the genus Tympanuchus
which, for the lack of
space, I could not com-
plete in Part III of the
present series.

The woodland heath
hen, or pinnated grouse
of Martha's Vineyard, is the Tympanuchus
cupido of science. It is smaller than any
of the other forms of this genus, and a
century or more ago it was an abundant
bird on certain parts of Long Island and on
a considerable portion of the states of the

Atlantic, down i-nto Virginia. As before
stated, it is being strictly protected on
Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, where a
few pairs are still in existence, — about 300
birds altogether.

Eaton, in his Birds of New York, gives us
a good cut of the heath hen, it being a repro-
duction of a photograph of the mounted
specimen in the Museum of Vassar College.
His description of the bird is apparently
for both sexes, being as follows: "Tarsi
lightly feathered to the toes; a tuft of from
seven to ten elongated pointed feathers on each
side of the neck over the naked membrane,
which is very distensible in the mating

586

The Outer's Book

season, being inflated at will until it looks
like a small orange; tail short, of 18 stiff
feathers; breast meat dark; upper parts
light reddish brown barred with dusky and
buff; under parts white broadly barred with
brown; chin, throat, cheeks and stripe over
eye buffy. Length 16 inches; extent 27;
wing 8.3^-8.6; tail 4. Female smaller; wing
8; darker and rustier." (p. 376).

Coues remarks that this bird very closely
resembles the common pinnated grouse of
the West and says, quoting some other
authority which he does not name, "neck-
tufts composed of from three to five narrow,
acutely lance-pointed, stiffened feathers, with
about the same number of overlapping
coverts." Ridgway states of this species
"Scapulars with large and very conspicuous
terminal spots of buffy whitish; neck-tufts of
adult male composed of not more than ten
lanceolate, pointed feathers." (Manual, p.
203). Coues confirms the scapulars being
spotted by the feathers having whitish tips.

A pretty good figure is given of this heath
hen (T. cupido) in Darwin's "The Descent
of Man," and this is here reproduced as
Figure 15 from a photograph I made of it.
It is from an original drawing by T. W. Wood,
and represents the male in the act of strutting.

In the Northwest, the common prairie
chicken not unfrequently crosses with the
sharp-tailed grouse — either the prairie or the
Columbian — and if such interesting hybrids
are met with by sportsmen, they should, if pos-
sible, be preserved. Years ago, I published
an account of the skeleton of one of these
hybrids, sent me by the distinguished ornithol-
ogist of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Mr.
William Brewster.

As in the case of T. cupido, the lesser
prairie chicken (T. pallidicinctus) is smaller
than americanus, and its markings above are
more of a brown than black, the dark ones
not being in excess of the light, the transverse
bars being brown with narrow edges. Be-
neath, the narrow dark bars are inclined to
enclose a broad brown one between any two
dusky ones.

In this species, the tarsi are very light
feathered, to the extent of having an un-
feathered longitudinal strip posteriorly.

This pale pinnated grouse is the one we
find in Kansas and Indian territory, down
into Texas; while further down, coast- wise,
in the latter state and Louisiana, we get
Attwater's, — the heath hen is the Martha's
Vineyard one; the rest are the common
prairie chicken.

With this, and the data I have given
above, one can identify any of the prairie
chickens of the genus Tympanuchus in this
country, including those found in Alaska.

Passing to the sharp-tailed grouse of the
genus Pedioecetes and the sage hen (Centro-
cercus), it is as though I were meeting old
friends of by-gone days, for I was for many
years in the country where both were ex-
tremely abundant, and it would be hard
for me to say how many of them have fallen
for my gun.

For Pedcecetes, we have the sharp-tailed
grouse, P. p. phasiandlus, an elegant game
bird ranging through "Central Alaska and
northwestern British Columbia east through
central Keewatin to central western Ungava,
and south to Lake Superior and the Parry
Sound district, Ontario, casual east to
Saguenay River, Quebec." (A. O. U.
"Check-List"). It is therefore not a repre-
sentative of our avifauna, while the two
subspecies of the genus are, — the better
known to us being the Columbian sharp-
tailed grouse (P. phasianellus colu mbianus) .
This form has a range extending through
central British Columbia and central Alberta
southward to northeastern California, Utah
and central Colorado.

The word phasianellus is the Latin diminu-
tive of phasianus, a pheasant, while colum-
bianus refers to the Columbia River. In
the case of our second subspecies, the prairie
sharp-tailed grouse (P. p. campeslris), its
subspecific name is also from the Latin, —
campus meaning an extensive open area or
plain. This bird ranges through southern
Alberta and southern Manitoba, to Wyoming,
Kansas and northern Illinois.

The Columbian sharp-tailed grouse has
received numerous common names, one or
more being applied to it in any section of
its range. Throughout the Northwest, it is
generally known as the prairie chicken; it
is also called the pin-spike — or sprig-tailed
grouse, etc., or these terms without the word
grouse being used. I have been in sections
of the Northwest where they are simply
called "pin-tails." As elsewhere stated,
they will cross with the pinnated grouse, and
numerous hybrids have been taken.

Audubon's account of the habits of the
sharp-tailed grouse was furnished him by Sir
John Richardson, Mr. Higgins and Townsend,
and it fully agrees with my own observations
of this bird. He states that the bird was
unknown to him, and, unfortunately, he
does not say who loaned him the skins of
this species from which he made his plate
(Vol. V., No. 60, PI. 298), and from which he
made his descriptions of plumage, etc. I
have photographed this plate and it is here
reproduced as Figure 16; the pair of birds
there shown have — to me — the appearance
of the Columbian sharp-tailed grouse.

Sh

rp-tailed grouse (Pedioecelts phasianellus probably columbianus). Reproduced from a photograph by
the author of Audubon's plate. The male is in advance of the female.

The sharp-tailed grouse found around
Hudson's Bay was, as long ago as 1758, first
designated by Linnaeus (Syst. Nat. ed. 10, I.
160, Tetrao phasianellus), and it is stated
that Lewis and Clark, in 1805-6, were the
discoverers of the Columbian sharp-tailed
grouse; if they furnished Audubon with his
material, the birds in Figure 16 are of that
subspecies. If he got them from Richardson,
they are probably phasianellus, but I have
not the data at hand to settle this point at
the present time. It was Lewis and Clark
who noted that the scales in the summer
time come off the toes in these grouse,
which is an interesting fact. In all the forms,
the female is smaller than the male, and the
tints of her plumage paler. Pullets and
chicks have special plumages for description,
but our space will not admit of giving such
information here.

In the adults, the tail of this grouse will
at once suggest the genus to which it belongs
on account of the elongated, two central
feathers with their square ends, as shown
in the Figure. So it remains only to furnish
data, by means of which one can determine the
subspecies. In this, one will be helped by
knowing where the specimen — or specimens —
were shot, — that is, the range. Further
assistance will be found in making a com-
parison with the birds in Figure 16, which,
as a matter of fact, presents the remarkable
plumage markings of this grouse, apart
from the question of color. It is on account

of the blacks, browns, dusky shades, buffs,
white, grays, tawny, and the rest for colors
found in the plumages of this group of grouse
and the markings on the feathers in various
parts of the plumage, as spots, "V-shaped
marks," streaks, bars, irregular dots; U-shaped
spots, "sharp-angled -stars," speckles, "gutti-
form spots," etc., that furnishes the reason
why authors have been compelled to give us
such lengthy descriptions of the appearance
of the established forms, in so far as the
plumages are concerned.

Ridgway, in his "Manual," does not
mention how many feathers compose the
tail in a sharp-tailed grouse; Audubon says
there are 16, and Coues, in his "Key," says
18, which is correct, the two elongated
middle feathers being colored above like
the back. Audubon probably overlooked
them, counted 8 on either side, — and hence 16.

Coues, in describing the male and female
of the Columbian sharp-tailed grouse (P. p.
colu mbianus) , says that the "Upper parts
closely and pretty evenly variegated with
blackish-brown, reddish-brown, and grayish-
brown, the pattern smallest on rump and
lower back, where the blackish is mostly in
sharp-angled stars; the reddish most con-
spicuous on upper back, and both the lighter
colors everywhere finely sprinkled with black-
ish. Wing-coverts like upper back, but with
numerous conspicuous rounded white spots,
one on end of each feather. Crown and back
of neck nearly like back, but in smaller

588

The Outer's Book

pattern, and the markings mostly transverse.
An illy-defined white area on each side of
neck, over tympanum, and slight whitish
stripe behind eye. Throat fine light buff,
usually immaculate, but sometimes finely
speckled quite across. Under parts white,
more or less tinted with buff toward throat;
breast with numerous regular dark brown
U-shaped spots, one on each feather; similar
but smaller, sharper and fewer such spots
thence scattered over most of the under
parts, only middle of belly being left un-
marked. Long feathers of sides under wings
matching upper wing-coverts nearly; under
wing-coverts and auxiliaries pure white, not
marked; flanks with bars or V-spots of dark
brown. Legs grayish-white, unmarked.
Quills of wings fuscous; outer webs of secon-
daries with equidistant, squarish, white or
tawny spots, secondaries tipped and imper-
fectly twice or thrice barred with white, and
gradually becoming sprinkled with the varied
color of back, so that the innermost of them are
almost precisely like greater coverts. Four
middle tail-feathers variegated, much like
back; others white or grayish- white on inner
webs, the outer webs being mottled; a few
under tail-coverts spotted, the rest white;
upper tail-coverts nearly like rump. Iris
light brown; bill dark horn-color; part of
under mandible flesh-colored; claws like bill;
toes on top light horn-color, soles darker.
Length 18.00-20.QO; extent 24.00-30.00; wing
8.00-9.00; middle tail-feathers 4.00-6.00;
shortest tail-feathers (outermost) about 1.50
inches." ("Key", 5th edition, 1903, pp.
737, 738).

Surely no one will ever miss identifying a
Columbian sharp-tailed grouse from this
description. I quote it in full, in preference
to any other known to me, in order that it
may be passed along as standard. When read,
it should be compared with Figure 16 of the
present Part. I can fully endorse it as
agreeing with my own observations.

Ridgway first described the prairie sharp-
tailed grouse (Pedioecetes phasianellus campes-
iris), believing, as he did, that the specimens
he examined were "above more rusty or
ochraceous," and Coues, in his "Key,"
records "the name without further remark."
(Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. II, Apr. 10, 1884, 93).
The compilers of the A. O. U. "Check-List"
(3rd ed. 1910) have recognized the subspecies
(p. 144), and it is therefore listed here. At
the limits of their several ranges, these
sharp-tailed grouse imperceptibly grade into
each other, and so we find examples, the
plumages of which — and to some extent other
characters — would require special descriptions
to record them, as they depart — in one
particular or another, or in several particu-

lars— from the recognized type forms. By
taking a map upon which may be plotted out
all the ranges of the several kinds of grouse
of this genus, it will at once be appreciated
in which parts of this country, Alaska, or
the Dominion of Canada we would be likely
to meet with the "intermediates," and where
we would not; and finally, where the typical
representatives of any of the three subspecies
would occur.

There is but one more grouse left for me
to consider in the present contribution, and
it is the largest of all our American ones.
This is the sage hen, known also as the sage
cock and "cock of the plains," Centrocercus
urophasianus (Gr. our a, tail, and phasianus,
a pheasant).

This magnificent representative of the
TetraonidcR is an inhabitant of the sagebrush
plains of middle eastern California, New
Mexico and Arizona, northwestern Nebraska,
and still northward to 49° farther, into
British Columbia, southern Saskatchewan,
Alberta, thence in northwestern Dakota and
Missouri Basin. I found it very abundant
on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Moun-
tains, in Wyoming and northward. It is —
or was — to be found in immense flocks on
the sage plains of certain parts of Utah,
Idaho, Nevada and Oregon.

On the plains in western Wyoming, south
of the Owl Creek Mountains, I frequently
met with flocks numbering several hundreds
in the latter 70's. I knew of a man who rode
through such a flock and killed over a dozen
by knocking them over with his "quirt;"
indeed, such wanton amusement was by no
means uncommon.

Up to date, there has been but one species
of sage cock described; it was Swainson who
created the genus about 1831 or 32, and Bona-
parte named the bird Tetro urophasianus in
1827 (Zool. Jour. III. 213),— hence the name
it bears.

Wilson never knew of its existence, and
Audubon saw only a few skins of them. His
account of the bird — which he called the
pheasant-tailed grouse — consists of three
published letters, one from Townsend, one
from Nuttall and one from Douglas. Those
from the two first-named naturalists are
excellent, and the statements in them true
and interesting. Its flight, as described by
Douglas, is entirely incorrect, and, when
describing the courtship of the male, his
statement that "the bare yellow oesophagus
inflated to a prodigious size, — fully half as
large as his body, and, from its soft membrane-
ous substance, being well contrasted with the
scale-like feathers," etc., etc., is not only
untrue, but ridiculous.

Fig. 17. Male and femalejof thejsage hen (Cenirocercus urophasianus). Male with tail erect. Reproduction of Audubon's
plate from a photograph of it by the author.

In Figure 17 I herewith reproduce, by
means of photography, Audubon's plate of
a pair of sage cocks, which fairly well repre-
sents them. He says of the latter, however,
that "In some individuals, as I am informed
by Mr. Townsend, the hair-like shafts of
the feathers on the sides of the neck are
considerably longer than in my figure of the
male," which, I may add, is very true.

Personally, I am of the opinion that these
birds do not gain their full size until about
the third summer, as this and the weight of
the sexes vary so. Males run from four to
upwards of eight pounds, and females —
which are about a third smaller than the
cocks — never over five pounds.

Males, having attained their full size, are
about two and a half feet long; wing extent
about a yard, and the tail averages a foot
or more. The under parts are mostly white,
with an area of deep black on the abdomen;
above, the prevailing colors are buff, gray,
black and brown, exhibiting considerable
variation.

The feathers on either side of the neck are
stiff and wiry, especially at their bases.
These lateral cervical patches meet each
other in front, and the feathers composing
them have their ends produced as filament-
ous extensions, three or four inches long, of
a peculiar kind. During the breeding season,
these all wear down, leaving but stiff, scale-

like remnants to represent them. It is
anterior to these curious feather tracts that
we find the nude tympana which are capable
of such enormous inflation with air during
the amatory display and strutting of the cock
before the hens when courting. Either air-sac
has above it a tuft of much softer feathers,
over which are to be found still others of a
plumbaceous sort, which seem to represent
the firmer and far better developed ones in
the pinnated and ruffed grouse. On the
breast, most of the feathers are coarse and
bristly, having, as in the case of those of the
lower neck in front, been worn down to
mere scales and threads in his antics before
the females of his harem, to prove to them
that the breeding season is at hand, and how
much he thinks of them.

The scaly kind have dirty, white bases
with their filamentous ends dusky, the softer,
downy ones all being pure white, while over
all there are the deep black and glossy plumes
of this part of the bird's plumage. Entire
throat black, with the ends of the feathers
speckled with white, these massing to form
below a white semi-color. (Fig. 17). Inside
of wings white. Lower tail-coverts black,
broadly tipped with white.

The pattern of the tail and upper tail-
coverts are well shown in Figure 17.

In the female the throat is not black, but
on the contrary with the chin is pure white,

590

The Outer's Book

while the black below, on the fore-chest, is
replaced by speckled gray. In her, too, the
air-sacs are rudimentary, and 'none of the
neck-feathers are peculiar. In fact, while in
general her plumage is like that of the male,
it is nevertheless more subdued, the shorter
and softer feathers tapering more rapidly.

I have published the osteology of the adults,
pullets and chicks of this species from speci-
mens collected by myself. The pullets, in
September, are much like the female in
plumage, and their hunting is not to be
despised as they are excellent table-fowls.
The adults have their flesh too powerfully
impregnated with the taste of the leaves
and buds of the artemisia they feed upon as
a part of their diet to be pronounced good
eating. It goes pretty well, however, when
one is very hungry and has not seen any
fresh meat for a long time, particularly if the
hunter will take the pains to "draw" the
bird as soon as shot.

The digestive tract of Centrocercus is
worthy of a more careful and complete

anatomical description than it has h retofore
received. It is quite different from what we
find in the other genera. Years ago, J lugway
pointed out this fact as follows: "A peculi-
arity of this species, which I have not seen
noticed, is that its stomach, instead of being
hard and very muscular as in other Gdlinacea
is soft and membraneous, like that of the
birds of prey. This was first told me by
hunters in Nevada, and I afterward satisfied
myself of the truth of their statement that
the sage hen "has no gizzard," by dissecting
a sufficient number of individuals." (Am.
Nat. VIII., 1874).

This fact I have demonstrated a number
of times for my own satisfaction, the first
dissection of the kind being upon an unusu-
ally large male bird, which I opened with a
hunting-knife on the pommel of my saddle,
while riding after Indians in 1879 in Wyoming,
and attached as surgeon to a large military
outfit in the field. It surely was a case of
pursuing the study of avian anatomy under
peculiar circumstances.

An Unorthodox Bear Story

By PAUL E. TRIEM

[D I ever hunt bears?"
old man Browning re-
peated. "Did you ever
hunt earthquakes?"

Mr. Todd admitted
that he never had.

"Well, it'd be just as
safe as bear hunting, and
there'd be more amuse-
ment in it, to my way of thinking," the old
man assured him.

"But your nephew?" Mr. Todd suggested.

"I'm not responsible for any of Charlie's

foolishness," Mr. Browning said. Then

catching a look of disappointment on Mr.

Todd's face, the old man relented a little.

"I suppose you're looking for information
about bears, and came to me because you
couldn't get Charlie to talk?" he queried.

Mr. Todd admitted that he found the
younger Browning rather uncommunica-
tive.

"Well," Mr. Browning said, "I had a
misunderstanding with a bear the first year

after I came to live with Charlie that shows
how near a man can come to playing second
fiddle in a bear fight and still get out alive;
as that seems to be the main part of every
bear story I ever heard, it'll probably answer
as well as if I'd gone out for the very purpose
of getting into trouble."

The old man made this remark tentatively;
apparently he was not sure that Mr Todd
would care to hear a bear story that savored
of the unorthodox.

"The bear's the thing I'm interested in,"
Mr. Todd assured him. "I don't care
whether you hunted him or whether he
hunted you."

"Thank you," the old man said grimly.
"I cared considerable at the time, but I'm
getting to look at it the same as you do. As
I said, it was the first year after I came west;
I hadn't learned to shoot— didn't care much
for meat, anyhow — but I could fish and I'd
pretty well caught the knack of spearing
salmon."

000302780

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY

Los Angeles
This book is DUE on the last date stamped below.

590

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By PAUL E. TRIEM

[D I ever hunt bears?"
old man Browning re-
peated. "Did you ever
hunt earthquakes?"

Mr. Todd admitted
that he never had.

"Well, it'd be just as
safe as bear hunting, and
there'd be more amuse-
ment in it, to my way of thinking," the old
man assured him.

"But your nephew?" Mr. Todd suggested.

"I'm not responsible for any of Charlie's

foolishness," Mr. Browning said. Then

catching a look of disappointment on Mr.

Todd's face, the old man relented a little.

"I suppose you're looking for information
about bears, and came to me because you
couldn't get Charlie to talk?" he queried.

Mr. Todd admitted that he found the
younger Browning rather uncommunica-
tive.

"Well," Mr. Browning said, "I had a
misunderstanding with a bear the first year

after I came to live with Charlie that shows
how near a man can come to playing second
fiddle in a bear fight and still get out alive;
as that seems to be the main part of every
bear story I ever heard, it'll probably answer
as well as if I'd gone out for the very purpose
of getting into trouble."

The old man made this remark tentatively;
apparently he was not sure that Mr Todd
would care to hear a bear story that savored
of the unorthodox.

"The bear's the thing I'm interested in,"
Mr. Todd assured him. "I don't care
whether you hunted him or whether he
hunted you."

"Thank you," the old man said grimly.
"I cared considerable at the time, but I'm
getting to look at it the same as you do. As
I said, it was the first year after I came west;
I hadn't learned to shoot — didn't care much
for meat, anyhow — but I could fish and I'd
pretty well caught the knack of spearing
salmon."

AA 000302780