Tetrao obscurus, Say.
PLATE CCCLXI. Male and Female.
As I have never seen this species in its native haunts, I am obliged to have recourse to the observations of those who have had opportunities of studying its habits. The only accounts that can be depended upon are those of Dr Richardson, Dr Townsend, and Mr Nuttall, which I here give in order, beginning with what is stated respecting it in the Fauna Boreali-Americana by the first of these naturalists.
“This large Grous inhabits the Rocky Mountains from latitude 40° to 60°, and perhaps to a greater extent, for the limits of its range either northward or southward have not been ascertained. It has been known to the fur-traders for nearly thirty years; but it was first introduced to the scientific world by Mr Say, who, in 1820, accompanied Major Long to the source of the Missouri; and a female specimen, deposited by him in the Philadelphia Museum, has lately been figured by the Prince of Musignano in his continuation of Wilson’s Ornithology. I had no opportunity of observing the habits of this bird myself, but was informed by Mr Drummond that, in the mornings during pairing time, usual station of the male is on some rocky eminence or large stone, where he sits swelling out the sides of his neck, spreading his tail, and repeating the cry of “Coombe, Coombe,” in a soft hollow tone. Its food consists of various berries, and its flesh is very palatable. Mr Alexander Stewart, 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 Richardson adds in a note, that “the description and figure of Mr Say’s specimen agree so completely with 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 Musignano states the total length of the bird to be eighteen inches, that of the wing nine inches and a half. The wing 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 Museum are of younger birds than ours, but evidently the same species.” These remarks correspond with what I have so often repeated, that age, sex, and different states of moult, produce disparities in individuals of the same species.
Dr Townsend, in the notes with which he has favoured me, has the following observations:—“Dusky Grous, Tetrao obscurus. Qul-al-lalleun of the Chinooks. First found in the Blue Mountains, near Wallah Wallah, in large flocks, in September. Keep in pine woods altogether, never found on the plains; they perch on the trees. Afterwards found on the Columbia River in pairs in May. The eggs are numerous, of a cinereous brown colour, blunt at both ends, and 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 Grous, 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 neck.”
Mr Nuttall’s notice is as follows:—“The Dusky Grous breeds in the shady forests of the Columbia, where we heard and saw them throughout the summer. The male at various times of the day makes a curious uncouth tooting, almost like the sound made by blowing into the bung-hole of a barrel, boo wh’h, wh’h, wh’h, wh’h, 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 Ruffed Grous also breeds here commonly, and I one day found the nest concealed near a fallen log, but it was at once forsaken after this intrusion, though I did not touch the eggs.”
From the examination of specimens in my possession, I am persuaded that this species, like Tetrao Cupido, has the means of inflating the sacs of bare skin on the sides of the neck, by means of which, in the breeding season, are produced the curious sounds above described.
Tetrao obscurus, Dusky Grous, Ch. Bonaparte, Amer. Ornith. vol. iii. pl. 18.—Id. Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 127.—Richards. and Swains. Fauna Bor.-Amer. vol. ii. p. 344.
Dusky Grous, Nuttall, Manual, vol. i. p. 666.
Adult Male. Plate CCCLXI. Fig. 1.