The Sharp-tailed Grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus Linnaeus) reached the southern limits of its historic range in northeastern New Mexico, where a population occupied Johnson and adjacent mesas in Colfax and perhaps Union counties (Ligon 1927, Bailey 1928).
Since first reported, the New Mexico population has been variously assigned to the prairie subspecies T. p. campestris(Ridgway), the Columbian T. p. columbianus (Ord), or the high-plains form T. p. jamesi (Lincoln) (e.g., A.O.U. 1886, 1895, 1931, 1957; Ligon 1927; Friedmann 1941; Aldrich and Duvall 1955; and Aldrich 1963).