Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/274

264 Partridge, very diminutive in size, not so large as an English Thrush, with a long azure crest, and head and neck of the same hue, the rest of the bird being an uniform pea-grey. I have not seen it myself, but have provided one of the hunters with shot to procure it for me.

In the upper country are two or three kinds of Grouse; one a very large bright grey bird, as large as the smaller size of Turkeys, is plentiful and easily procured; another, about the size of a hen, of a blackish color, is also abundant; it cackles exactly like the domestic fowl, and never flies, but runs along the ground.

The Large Grouse I have not seen alive, but often observed its tail-feathers and part of the skin, decorating the war-caps of the Indians from the interior.

A species very distinct from the Cuculus cristatus of Wilson, is the Small Blue Jay (Garrulus Stelleri? Vieillot); indeed I do not remember to have read any description at all according with it. Unlike the common Jay of our country. which is very shy, and in autumn is seen in large flocks, but never near houses, the Jay of the Columbia is very tame, and visits the dung-hills of the Indian villages, like an English robin, sometimes thirty or forty of the birds coming together. It is of a darker blue than the European kind, and has a black crest. Three of them are preserved.

The Large Horned Owl seems not very abundant; I never saw more than twelve or fourteen. One I killed by the light of the moon, having watched for it during several successive evenings; it was not, however, the species I was in quest of, which is much larger than the Snowy Owl, and of a yellowish brown color.

There are two species of Crow, one large and the other small; the lesser kind is shyer and not so abundant, being only seen on the banks of rivers and near old encampments, where it feeds upon carrion. This bird is in my collection; it was killed in February.

In the Wild Fowl there appears little difference from what generally inhabit the wild districts of America. The com-