('• 446
DUSKY GROGS.
TETRAO QMSCUIIDS, >S*Y.
1'I.ATK GeOLX-I. MAM ANS F s i a a .
As I have s ew? see» this species i».'its native: haunts, I am obliged
to have recotlrse to th.vohscrvat.ions of those who have had opportunities
of shidyiu.v its habits. The only accounts' that w be depended upon
are those of Dr RICHARDSON, Dr TOWKSV.XD, and Mr \ITTTAI.I., which
I here-give in: order, beginnfagiwith. what -isi stated respec&ig-it in
t f e Fanira lion-ali-Americana-by th<-.'fihst -of these naturalists.
This Ifrgc Grous inhabits: the Kocky Mountains from latitude
•Krïîjî 68\ and perhaps to a- greater eHtlfa, for the limits of its range
either northward or southward have not been. ascertained. It has bee®
known to the far-traders for nearly thirty years ; but ir was first introduced
to the scientific world bv Mr SAY. who. in 1820. accompanied
Major I.ONK to the source of the Missouri ; and a female specimen, deposited
by him in the Philadelphia Museum, ha» lately been figured bK.
the Prince of MrsioNAXo'iii his continuation of Wilson's Ornithology.
I had no opportunity of observing the habits: of this bird myself, but
was informed by Mr l)ui:.«MONO that, in the mornings during pairing
time, " the usual station of 1 lie male is oil some rocky eminence or large
stone, where he sits swelling out the sides of his neck, spreading his
tail, and rêpéâting the cry of " Coombe, Coombe," in a soft hollow
'igMr Its food consists of various berries, and its flesh is very pala^
table. Mr ALEXANDER STÏWAKT, a chief-factor of the Hudson's Bay
Company, who has often crossed the mountains, informs me that the
males of this species fight each other with such animosity, that a man
may take one of them up in his hand before it will quit its' antagonist."
Dr M CHARD SON adds in a note, that " the description and figure
of MR SAY'S specimen agree so completely wit h our younger female
specimens, that there can be- no doubt of their specific identity ; but it
is proper to observe that there is some discrepancy in the dimensions.
The Prince of MOSIRNAN O states the total length of the bird to be
eighteen inches, that of the wing nine inches and a half. The wing
D U S K Y GROUS; 447
of- the largest of our males is scarcely so. long; while the biggest of
our females, measuring twenty-one inches in total' length, has a wing
barely eight inches long. This, perhaps, merely indicates the uncertainty
of measurements taken from prepared specimens. Mr DOUGLAS'S
specimens in the Edinburgh Museuiri are of younger birds than
ours,-. .but evidently, .the same species."' These remarks correspond
with.what I hauf so often repeated;, that age, sex, and different statesof
moult, produce disparities, in individuals of the same species.
Dr TOWSSKXD, in the, notes with which he has favoured me, has the
following observations :««" Dusky Grous, Tetrao olsmarus. Qul-al lallwm
of the Gbinooks:- First found, in the Blue Mountains, near Wallah
Wallah, in large flocks, in September. Keep in pine woods altogether,
never found on the plains:;? thov perch on the trees,: Afterwards found
on the. Columbia Kivor in ip airs in MayU The eggs are numerous, of a
cinereous brown e@l©w, blunt at both ends, ami small for the size of
the bird.. The actions of the female, when the young are following her-,,
are precisely the same.as the Ruffed (irons, using all the arts of that
bird in counterfeiting lameness, &c. Female smaller than the male,
lighter coloured, and wants the yellow warty skin upon the sides of the
nook."
Mr: NuTTALtis notice is; as follows The Dusky Grous breeds
in the shady forests of tin; Columbia, where wo heard -and saw thom
throughout, the summer. The male :at various times of the day makes
'ft curious uncouth tooting, almost like the sound made by blowing into
the bung-hole: of a barroll, boo v-Kh, wKh, wk'k, with, the last, note descending
into a kind of echo. We frequently tried to steal on the performer,
but without success, as, in fact, the sound is so strangely managed
that you may imagine it to come from the left or right indifferently;
They breed on the ground, as usual, and the brood keep, together nearly
all winter. The Huffed Grous also breeds here, commonly, and I one
day .found the nest concealed near a fallen log, but: it was, a t once forsaken
after this intrusion-, though I. did not touch the eggs."
From the: examination of specimens in my possession, I ain persuaded
that tliii species, like Tetrao Gupido, has. the means of inflating
the sacs of bace skin on the sides of the neck, by means of which, in
the. breeding season, are produced the. curious sounds above-described.