THE BLACK GROUSE, OR BLACK COCK. 489 



adult birds feed mostly on vegetable substances, such as juniper, cranberry, and bilberries, and 

 the leaves and buds of several trees. 



The color of the adult male bird is chestnut-brown covered with a number of black lines 

 irregularly dispersed, the breast is black with a gloss of green, and the abdomen is simply 

 black, as are the lengthened feathers of the throat and the tail. The female is easily known by 

 the bars of red and black which traverse the head and neck, and the reddish-yellow barred 

 with black of the under surface. In size, the Capercaillie is nearly equal to a turkey. 



4 



THE COCK OF THE PLAINS is closely allied to the preceding species. 



It is an American bird, being found in the dry plains in the interior of Southern California. 

 Like the cock of the woods, this bird is accustomed during the breeding season to disport him- 

 self after a peculiar and grotesque manner, drooping his wings, spreading his tail like a fan, 

 puffing out his crop until the bare yellow skin stands prominently forward, somewhat after 

 the fashion of the pouter pigeon, and erecting the long silken plumes of the neck. Thus 

 accoutred, he parades the ground with much dignity, turning himself about so as to display 

 his shape to the best advantage, assuming a variety of rather ludicrous attitudes, and uttering 

 a loud booming cry that is compared to the sound made by blowing strongly into a large 

 hollow reed. 



The nest of this bird is made of dried grasses and small twigs, and is placed on the ground 

 under the shelter of bushes or rank herbage. It is rather carefully made, and generally con- 

 tains from thirteen to seventeen brown eggs blotched with chocolate on the large end. The 

 Cock of the Plains is a gregarious bird, assembling in little troops in the summer and autumn, 

 and in large flocks of several hundred in number during the winter and spring. The flesh of 

 this bird is eatable, but dark in color and not of a very good flavor. 



The male is a very handsome bird, brown on the upper surface and mottled with very 

 dark brown and yellowish -white. The skin of the crop is deep orange-yellow, and on each side 

 of it is a tuft of long and very slender feathers, having the shafts nearly naked, and dotted at 

 the tip with a pencil of black bands. The throat and head are white profusely variegated with 

 black, and the white feathers of the sides are firm, rounded, and of a scale-like form. The 

 .shafts of the breast-feathers are black and stiff. In total length this bird measures about 

 twenty-two inches. The female is less in size, is without the feather- tufts on the neck and the 

 scale-like plumage of the sides. 



THE SAGE COCK (Centrocercus urophasianus), or Cock of the Plains, is the largest of all 

 the family. It seems confined to the sterile regions from the Black Hills to California and 

 Oregon, and from British Columbia nearly to Arizona but only on those plains where the 

 wild sage (artemesia) grows hence, the trivial name of the bird. It is naturally tame, and 

 clumsy, but when really -alarmed flies with great rapidity, and at considerable distance. Its 

 notes strongly resemble those of the common hen. It seems to be partial to open plains, and 

 localities away from the sea-coast. 



Its habits are similar to those of the turkey. In winter it flocks in great numbers ; in the 

 spring it goes in pairs, and in the fall in small family groups. It is abundant on the plains of 

 California, and also on the north branch of the Platte. 



From feeding so much on the wild sage, its flesh becomes impregnated with a bitter 

 quality, which ruins it for food. The weight of an ordinary-sized Sage Grouse is about six 

 pounds. The large orange-colored, ball-shaped neck ornaments, and the long acuminate tail 

 are characters that are quite distinctive, added to its great size. A very curious anatomical 

 peculiarity is seen in this species. They have no gizzard, having instead a soft membraneous 

 stomach, which is not capable of digesting hard food. It is not known to eat grain, but seems 

 to feed wholly on vegetable -matter, and that almost exclusively of the wild sage. Possibly 

 the grasshoppers and other soft insects may be eaten. 



THE well-known BLACK GBOUSE, or BLACK COCK, is a native of the more southern coun- 

 tries of Europe, especially those localities where the pine woods and heaths afford it shelter, 

 and it is not dislodged by the presence of human habitations. 



VOL. H.-g. 



