296. Cyrtonyx montezumæ mearnsi. 9 inches.
These strange birds are very local in their distribution in the southwest, rare in some localities and quite abundant in others. They are so confiding in their disposition, that this, in connection with their clownish plumage, has given them the name of “Fool Quail.” The bill is very stout and compressed; crest large, puffy and flat. They frequent dry deserts, valleys or mountains to quite a high altitude. Their eggs, which are pure white, are not distinguishable with certainty from the [Bob-white], possibly average a little longer (1.25 × .90).
DUSKY GROUSE—Family Tetraonidæ.
297. Dendragapus obscurus. 20 inches.
Plumage gray, white and black; darkest on the back and tail, which is margined with a light gray. Female smaller, browner and more barred above. Like the Ruffed Grouse, during the mating season, the males of this species strut with tail fully spread over the back, and head thrown back until it nearly touches the tail.
Nest.—They build their nests under fallen trees or at the base of standing ones. They lay from six to ten eggs of a buff color, spotted and blotched with shades of brown (2.00 × 1.40).
FRANKLIN GROUSE.
299. Canachites franklini. 16 inches.
Upper parts dark gray, marked with black bands, and narrower bands of lighter gray; tail feathers black to the tip, with the upper tail coverts strongly barred with white; tail having sixteen feathers. Like the preceding these birds are at home in the dense evergreen forests. It is very similar to the eastern bird, the Canada Grouse, and has the same local name given it from its unsuspicious nature, of “Fool-hen.”