Western Bird Guide: Birds of the Rockies and West to the Pacific

by Charles K. Reed

302. Lagopus rupestris. 14 inches.

This is somewhat smaller than the above, with a smaller bill, and in summer the plumage is more gray than brown. Its nesting habits are the same as the others; eggs slightly smaller (1.70 × 1.20).

PRAIRIE HEN.

305. Tympanuchus americanus. 18 inches.

This is the most familiar game bird of the West; brownish above and white or buff below, with broad black bands on the back and finer black lines on the under parts. In place of the ruffs on a grouse are long tufts of rounded or square ended feathers, and below these a peculiar sac; bright orange in the breeding season, and capable of being inflated to the size of a small orange; this is done when the bird makes its familiar “booming” noise. They are one of the best “table birds,” being of good size and excellent flavor.

Nest.—In hollows on the ground in the cover of tufts of grass; they lay from eight to fifteen eggs, having a buffy ground color, finely sprinkled with brown spots (1.70 × 1.25).

WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN.

304. Lagopus leucurus. 13 inches.

Found in the higher ranges of the Rocky Mountains, from Colorado north to Alaska. This species differs from any of the preceding in having at all seasons of the year a white tail; it is also somewhat smaller than the [Rock Ptarmigan]. From six to twelve creamy white eggs; speckled and blotched with chestnut brown (1.70 × 1.15).