specimens were secured in August, 1874. It was not seen in the foothills, even in apparently eligible situations, nor until we were fairly in the mountains, among the timber and dense windfalls, where it was rather common in the vicinity of our camp at Chief Mountain Lake. 4529 4530 Locality. Date. Collector. Rocky Mountains, Aug. 20, 1874 Elliott Coues. 18. 25 28.00 8.50 ...do do .do Skin. ....do. Nature of specimen, and remarks. TETRAO OBSCURUS RICHARDSONI, (Dougl.) Coues. RICHARDSON'S DUSKY GROUSE. The remarks made under head of the last species apply equally well to the present, which was found in the same situation. It appeared to be rather the more numerous of the two. A large number of individuals were shot for sport or for food by various members of the party. There is no doubt that a species of Ptarmigan, Lagopus leucurus, inhabits the higher elevations of the Rocky Mountains in this latitude. While at Pembina, I was assured of the existence of a species of "Wood Grouse", different from the Spruce Partridge, or "Black Grouse", in the mountains of the same name. This statement, Ι presume, refers to Bonasa umbellus. No Ruffed Grouse of any variety were seen in the Rocky Mountains, but probably only through default of observation, as the B. umbelloides is an inhabitant of this region. CENTROCERCUS UROPHIASIANUS, (Bp.) Sio. SAGE COCK; COCK OF THE PLAINS. The entire absence of this species from the Red River region is one of the characteristic points of distinction between this watershed and that of the Missouri. No Sage-cocks were seen during the first season, not even within the Missouri Coteau, in the vicinity of Fort Stevenson. Though the climatological conditions are the same as those of some regions where they abound, yet we miss the peculiar aspect of the sagebrush country to which they cling so pertinaciously. Upon leaving Fort Buford, during the second season, we soon entered a favorable tract where the birds were tolerably common, and where several specimens were secured. At this time, the last week of June, the chicks were already flying smartly, having attained on an average the size of quails. The birds were traced to the mouth of the Milk River. Further west and north, the country seems to be too open for them, and no more were noticed. It is a great mistake to suppose that this bird feeds entirely upon sage, as has been repeatedly asserted. A number of young birds which I opened, shot near the mouth of the Milk River, had the craw full of some kind of small aquatic beetle, which they had gleaned from a marshy spot near by, with only traces here and there of vegetable matter. Others had the crop stuffed with grasshoppers. River, Mont. 4071 4072 4073 ..do do do ....do Wolf Creek, Mont.. June 27, 1874 Elliott Coues. 22.50 37.50 10.50 Skin. do Skin (chick). Near mouth Milk July 1, 1874....do ..do. Nature of specimen. and remarks. PEDICECETES PHASIANELLUS COLUMBIANUS, (Ord) Coucs. SHARP-TAILED GROUSE; "PRAIRIE CHICKEN.” The whole of the region surveyed during my connection with the Commission lies beyond the range of the true Prairie-hen (Cupidonia cupido); while the Sage-cock, as just said, is confined to a limited portion of the Missouri country in the latitude of 49°. This leaves the field clear to the Sharp-tailed Grouse, which replaces the Prairie-hen, and abounds throughout the region from the Red River to the Rocky Mountains. In the "Birds of the Northwest", I carefully traced the general distribution of the species, particularly along the line where it inosculates with the range of the cupido. To this account I would refer for particulars not bere given, as well as for a careful description of the various changes of plumage and other points, to give which would exceed the due bounds of the present article. In the latitude of Pembina, the Chickens begin to lay the latter part of May or first of June. The first two weeks of the latter month are at the height of the laying and setting season. The earliest egg I procured was one cut from the parent June 4; but within a day or two a full set of eleven was found. Thirteen was the largest number secured in any one clutch; the smallest, among those in which incubation had progressed, was five. Average measurement of thirty specimens is 1.75 by 1.25; extremes of length, 1.80 and 1.60; of breadth, 1.30 and 1.20. When the shell is first formed, it is of a pale, dull greenish color; but before the egg is laid it acquires a drab or olive color by mixture of brown pigment with the original shade, and finally gains a uniform sprinkling of dark brown dots. The nests are found in various situations. Some are made out on the bare prairie, far from any landmark; others in moister tracts overgrown to willow-bushes. The first chicks I saw were caught on the 19th of June; these were newly hatched. They are very expert in hiding from the time they leave the shell. On threatened danger, the mother alarms them with a peculiar note, when they instantly scatter and squat; the mother then whirs away, but not until assured of their safety. The feathers of the wings and tail sprout first to replace the down, as in the case of the domestic fowl, in striking contrast to the growth of water-fowl, which become pretty well feathered long before their wings are serviceable for flight. The next feathers after the wings and tail are some on the poll; next appear strips of feathers on the breast and back; and with the completion of the process a plumage is assumed which lasts through part of September. In consequence of the rapid growth of the wing-feathers-a wise provision for the safety of birds until then exposed to numerous dangers-the young take short flights in a few weeks. I saw them beginning to top the bushes early in July; most of them fly quite smartly by the middle of this month, being then about as large as Quail (Ortyx), though some of them do not grow to this size for a month subsequently, showing a considerable range of variation in the time of hatching. I doubt that two broods are reared in a season, except perhaps in case of an accident to the first family; and for that matter, the birds seem to have all they can do to get a single set of chicks off their hands. The plumage last mentioned is retained during the greater part of September, and is unmistakable evidence of immaturity. The birds are "fit" to shoot, in one sense, from the time they are two-thirds grown, and afford sport enough of a certain grade; but they ought to be let alone, unless one merely wishes food, until the moult, which occurs some time in September, is completed. They then acquire a clean, fresh, and crisp plumage, differing decidedly from that before worn, and come into prime condition. The old birds, which are in woful plight by midsum mer, have by this time also accomplished the moult and come into fine feather again. The change in either case is gradual and protracted, and at no time are the birds deprived of flight, like ducks at the same trying period. To ascertain the food of this grouse during the summer, as well as that of other species, is a matter of more than simple curiosity. The service they render in destroying grasshoppers, too often overlooked, cannot be too strenuously insisted upon, or too prominently brought to notice. I have sometimes been tempted to believe that the increasing numbers of the scourge may be due, in part at least, to the wholesale destruction of summer grouse (both this species and the Pinnated), at the period when their services are most valuable. I have of course, in my proper official capacity, killed and opened great numbers of the birds during the whole season; and I almost invariably found their crops stuffed with grasshoppers, the only other contents being buds or flowers or the tops or succulent leaves of various plants, and small numbers of beetles, spiders, or other insects. At the height of the grasshopper season, however, the birds appear to eat scarcely anything else, and each crop will contain a large handful. If an army of grouse could be mustered and properly officered, they would doubtless prove more effectual in abating the pest than any means hitherto tried. In the winter, according to my observations made at Fort Randall, the food of the grouse consists chiefly of cedarberries and other hard fruits that persist, and the sealed buds of various amentaceous trees. During the latter part of September or early in October, when old and young have both finished the renewal of their plumage, and the family arrangements are foreclosed, the habits of the birds are considerably modified,-in nothing more than in the degree of shyness they exhibit. During the summer, also, they are rarely seen on trees, or on the open prairie, except in the vicinity of wooded or brushy tracts to which they may retreat. Now grown more confident, they scatter over the high prairie to feed, following up the ravines that lead from the watercourses, and in the afternoon returning to roost in the tops of the tallest trees. These daily excursions and returns may be very plainly noted along the Missouri, where the cottonwood bottoms are sharply divided from the limitless prairie. During the winter, especially when the ground is covered with snow, their arboreal habits are confirmed. The birds then hug the timber, and sometimes, on lowering or stormy days, remain motionless on their perches for hours together. Along the Missouri, above the Yellowstone, the birds were seen in considerable numbers during the second season; but they were scarcely so common as along the Red and Mouse Rivers. Small chicks were seen the latter part of June. In the still more arid and forbidding region through which the northern affluents of the Milk River flow, there were fewer still; days sometimes passed without my seeing any. In the better country about the Sweetgrass Hills, they recurred in sufficient numbers to afford fair sport; in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains, they were almost as numerous as anywhere else. They occur in the mountains up to an altitude of at least 4,200 feet, where they meet, at the bottom of the coniferous belt, the Spruce Partridge and Dusky Grouse. All three of these birds were common about our camp at Chief Mountain Lake. CHARADRIUS FULVUS VIRGINICUS, (Bork.) Coues. AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER. No Golden Plovers are seen in summer in any portion of the region explored. They pass through in large numbers during the vernal migration, in the month of May, and return again in the fall-the latter part of September. They were very abundant at this time along the Mouse River, and in fact on the prairie at large, for they scatter indiscriminately over large tracts, feeding upon the grasshoppers. Many were shot for food, to replenish a larder upon which four months' steady attention had made serious inroads. At this season, they were in excellent order, and proved very acceptable. |