_Tetrao phasianellus_, (not of LINN.,) ORD, Guthr. Geog. (2d Amer.
ed.) II, 317, 1815.—NUTT.—AUD.—NEWB.—BON. Syn. and Am. Orn.—COOP.
& SUCKL.—MAX. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 435. _Centrocercus p._ SWAINS.
F. B. A.—BONAP. Comp. Rend. _Pediœcetes p._ BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858,
626. _Phasianus columbianus_, ORD, Guthr. Geog. (2d. Am. ed.) II, 317,
1815. _Pediœcetes columbianus_, ELLIOT, P. A. N. S. Philad. 1862,
403.—IB. Monog. Tetraoninæ.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 532. _Tetrao
urophasianellus_, DOUGL. Trans. Linn. Soc. XVI, 136, 1829.
SP. CHAR. Prevailing colors yellowish-brown and white; ground-color
of head and neck deep buff. Upper parts variegated with transverse
spots of black, and more or less tinged with rusty; scapulars without
longitudinal spots of white; wing-coverts and outer webs of primaries
with large conspicuous spots of pure white, the former roundish, the
latter more quadrate. Breast and sides with V-shaped markings of pale
yellowish-brown, bordered with dusky. Throat immaculate, or only
minutely speckled; feathers of tarsus short, the toes completely bare.
No appreciable difference between the sexes. _Male_ (22,011 Simiahmoo,
Washington Territory; Dr. Kennerly). Wing, 8.00; tail, 4.40, two middle
feathers one inch longer. _Female_ (19,173, Rose Brier Creek; F. V.
Hayden)! Wing, 8.80; tail, 4.00.
HAB. Plains and prairies of the United States, from Illinois and
Wisconsin, west to Oregon, Nevada, etc.; south to Colorado, New Mexico,
etc.
HABITS. This species is the more southern of the two varieties of
Sharp-tailed Grouse found in North America. Owing to the confusion which
has existed until recently, in which both the northern and southern
races have been considered as one, the geographical distribution of each
may not be defined with complete exactness. The present form is found in
Illinois and Wisconsin, and westward to Oregon and Washington Territory,
and as far to the north as British Columbia and the southern portions of
the Saskatchewan Valley.
Dr. Newberry found this Grouse associated with the Prairie Chicken
on the prairies bordering on the Mississippi and the Missouri, and
frequently confounded with that bird, though readily distinguishable by
its lighter plumage, its speckled breast, and smaller size. It is always
the least abundant of the two species, when found together. The range of
this Grouse extends much farther westward; the _cupido_ being limited
to the valley of the Mississippi, while the former is found as far west
as the valleys of California. North of San Francisco his party first
found it on a prairie near Canoe Creek, fifty miles northeast of Fort
Reading; subsequently, on a level grass-covered plain in the upper cañon
of Pit River, these birds were met with in great abundance. They were
also found about the Klamath Lakes and in the Des Chutes Basin, as far
as the Dalles. The flesh was very much like that of the Prairie Chicken.
This bird is said to lie close, and when flushed to fly off, uttering
a constantly repeated _kuck-kuck-kuck_, moving with steadiness and
considerable swiftness. It is, however, easily killed. The young birds
are fat and tender, and as they fall on the grassy prairie scatter their
feathers, as if torn to pieces.
According to Dr. Suckley, the Sharp-tailed Grouse entirely replaces
the Pinnated Grouse in Washington Territory. He first noticed it near
old Fort Union, at the mouth of the Yellowstone River. From that point
to the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Washington Territory it was
exceedingly abundant wherever there was open country and a sufficiency
of food. In certain places they were in great numbers in the autumn,
congregating in large flocks, especially in the vicinity of patches
of wild rye, and more recently near settlements where there were
wheat-stubbles. They resemble the Pinnated Grouse in habits. Where they
are numerous, they may frequently be found, on cold mornings in the
autumn or early winter, perched on fences or on leafless trees, sunning
themselves in the early sunlight. At Fort Dalles a young bird, scarcely
two days old, was found on the first of April. This early incubation
seems to prove that they must have more than one brood in a season.
The young Grouse was confided to the charge of a Hen with a brood of
young chickens; but it refused to associate with them, and escaped,
probably to perish of cold. Dr. Cooper adds that this Grouse is found in
Washington Territory only in the low alluvial prairies of the streams
emptying into the Columbia east of the Cascade Mountains, where it was
found in flocks of several hundreds. They shun high grounds and forests
entirely. The only cry he ever heard them utter was a cackle when
suddenly started from the ground. Their wings make a loud whirring, as
among others of this family.
Mr. J. K. Lord found this species abundantly distributed on the western
slope of the Rocky Mountains, ranging right and left of the 49th
parallel. It was particularly numerous on the plains near the Kootanie
River, round the Osoyoos Lakes, and in the valley of the Columbia. He
did not meet with any on the western side of the Cascade Range. It is
also found in the Red River settlements and in Northern Minnesota.
Mr. Elliot is quite in error in stating that this Grouse does not occur
east of the Mississippi as it is found nearly throughout Northern
Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. I have seen a flock within thirty miles
of Chicago, and have from time to time had their eggs from Dane County,
Wisconsin.
Mr. Lord regards this Grouse as remarkable both for its field
qualities—such as lying well to a dog, rising with a loud rattling
whir, frequenting open grassy prairies, and flying as straight as an
arrow—and for its excellence as a table dainty. For delicacy of flavor
its flesh is unequalled. With the fur-traders this species is known
as the Spotted Chicken, and is, furthermore, the _Skis-kin_ of the
Kootanie Indians. Its singular combination of colors—white, black,
and brownish-yellow—makes it exactly resemble the ground on which
it lives, and admirably harmonizes with the dead twigs and leaves
of the artemisia, the dry and sandy soil, the brown of the withered
bunch-grass, and the sombre-colored lichens of the rocks. It often
requires a keen and practised eye to distinguish one of these birds from
the ground on which it has fallen, even though the eye be kept on the
spot where it was seen to fall. This similarity of colors with those of
the prairie no doubt effectually conceals them from the hawks and owls.
Its favorite haunt is on open grassy plains in the morning, keeping
concealed in the long thick grass, coming about midday to the stream to
drink, and to dust itself in the sandy banks. It seldom goes into the
timber, always remains close to the prairie, and never retires into the
depth of the forests. It lays its eggs on the open prairie in a tuft of
grass, or near the foot of a small hillock, nesting early in spring,
and depositing from twelve to fourteen eggs. The nest is a mere hole
scratched in the earth, with a few grass-stalks and root-fibres laid
carelessly and loosely over the bottom. Mr. Lord describes the eggs as
of a dark rusty-brown, with small splashes or speckles of darker brown
thickly spattered over them.
After nesting-time they appear in broods about the middle of August, the
young birds being about two thirds grown. At this time they frequent
the margins of small streams where there is thin timber and underbrush.
After the middle of September they begin to pack, two or three coveys
getting together, and flock after flock joining until they accumulate
into hundreds. On the first appearance of snow they begin to perch
on the dead branches of a pine or on the tops of fences. Near Fort
Colville, after snow fell, they assembled in vast numbers in the large
wheat-stubbles. They became wary and shy, the snow rendering every
moving thing so conspicuous that it was next to impossible for dogs to
hunt them.
The food of this Grouse consists principally of berries in the summer
months, such as the snowberry, the bearberry, the haws of the wild rose,
and the whortleberry, grain, the larvæ of insects, grass-seeds, etc. In
the winter they run over the snow with ease and celerity, dig holes in
it, and burrow underneath in the manner of a Ptarmigan. During the two
winters Mr. Lord spent at Colville, flocks of these birds congregated
around the hayricks at their mule-camp. In a temperature often 30° and
more below zero, and the snow several feet deep, they were strong, fat,
and wild, and did not appear to suffer at all from the intense cold.
Indeed, they are said to pair very early in the spring, long before
the snow has gone off the ground, and their meeting is preceded by
some very singular performances, which are called by the fur-traders
chicken-dances, to several of which Mr. Lord was an eyewitness. Groups
of these birds assemble for their dances either about sunrise or late
in the afternoon, selecting for the purpose a high round-topped mound,
which in the course of their evolutions becomes worn quite bare. At
one of the dances witnessed by Mr. Lord there were about twenty birds
present; the birds nearest him were head to head, like gamecocks in
fighting attitude,—the neck-feathers ruffed up, the little sharp tail
elevated straight on end, the wings dropped close to the ground, but
keeping up a rapid vibration or continued drumming sound. They circled
round and round each other in slow waltzing time, always maintaining
the same attitude, but never striking at each other. Sometimes the pace
increased, and one pursued the other until the latter faced about.
Others jumped about two feet in the air until out of breath, and then
strutted about in a peculiar manner; and others went marching about with
tails and heads as high up as they could get them.
Captain Blakiston states that on the Saskatchewan this species was very
generally distributed throughout the interior. He met with it just below
the forks of the Saskatchewan, and traced it to the western base of the
Rocky Mountains. He found it breeding at Fort Carlton. He regards these
birds as of polygamous habits. In the fall they are found in families,
in the semi-wooded country bordering on the prairies. They perch on
trees, frequently at the very top, and their crops are found stuffed out
with berries. These are chiefly the fruit of the bearberry, the ground
juniper, the snowberry, the small prairie roses, the buffalo-berry, and
several kinds of buds. They have also been known to feed on caterpillars
and other insects baked and crisped by prairie fires. Captain Blakiston
was also an eyewitness of one of the singular love-performances of these
birds, known as dances. His account of it, which is very full, is almost
exactly in correspondence with the account referred to as given by Mr.
Lord.
Mr. Ridgway met with this Grouse at one locality only, encountering them
late in September in the Upper Humboldt Valley. There it was found in
considerable numbers in the rye-grass meadows on the foot-slopes of the
Clover Mountains. They were startled from the ground, where they were
hidden in the grass, and when surprised frequently took refuge in the
willow-thickets along the streams near by. Their flesh was found to be
most excellent.
The eggs of this species vary considerably in size, but average about
1.80 inches in length and 1.30 in breadth. They are oval in shape,
slightly pointed at one end. Their ground varies from a light clay to a
dark rusty-brown, generally plain, but frequently speckled minutely with
fine dottings of a darker brown.