154 Birds of Colorado 



white tips ; breast covered with scaly, stiff, worn feather-bases from 

 which project black, hair-lil-ce filaments ; a patch of downy white 

 feathers on either side of the neck cover the naked tympanum or air 

 sac, which is enomaously inflated under sexual excitement ; flanks and 

 leg feathers mottled like the back. Bill black ; air-sacs yellow. Length 

 30-0 ; wing 13-0 ; tail 12-0 ; culmen l-o ; tarsus 2-25 ; weight up to 

 9^1bs. (Morrison). 



Before the breeding season the breast of the male is black. The 

 female is much smaller than the male — length about 20, wing 11-0 ; the 

 throat and breast are mottled like the back, but with more white, the 

 air-sac is present but quite small, and there are no specially modified 

 feathers. 



Distribution. — The sage-brvish plains of western North America from 

 south British Columbia and North Dakota, south to south-east 

 California and New Mexico, A resident with a shght vertical migra- 

 tion in some parts. 



In Colorado the Sage-Hen is a resident chiefly in the drier sage-brush 

 plains of the north and west of the State, but goes up to a certain 

 extent into the mountains and breeds as high as 9,000 feet at Dillon 

 (Carter)* and near Twin Lakes (Henshaw & Scott) ; but it does not 

 seem to occur at all in the eastern plains. The following are localities : 

 Grand, Routt and Gunnison cos. (Warren), Mesa co. (Rockwell), near 

 Cortez (5Iorrison), the lower Trinchera Valley in Costilla co. (Brunner 

 in litt.). 



Habits. — The Sage-Grouse or Sage-Hen is the largest 

 American game-bird except the Turkey, and is remark- 

 able in many respects. It is almost entirely confined 

 to the sage-brush {Artemesia) areas, and its diet is largely 

 confined to the shoots and leaves of these desert plants, 

 and as a result — ^unless drawn immediately after it is 

 killed — its flesh is far from palatable. 



The mating season begins early, and the courting 

 habits are very remarkable. The males strut round 

 with the yellow air-sacs enormously distended, so that the 

 whole head and neck are balloon-like in appearance. 

 With tail standing erect they scrape their breasts 

 along the bare ground and finish the performance by 

 expelling the air from the sacs with a chuckling, rumbling 



• It was probably in this neighbourhood that it was seen by Fremont, June 

 20th, 1844. 



