GROUSE, PARTRIDGES, QUAILS, ETC. 



133 



Food. 

 leaves. 



Grasshoppers and other insects, fruit, berries, grain, buds, and 

 GENUS CENTROCERCUS. 



General Characters. — Tail longer than wings, graduated, feathers 

 pointed ; neck with distensible air sacs surmounted by hair-like filaments 

 and erect feathers ; tarsus feathered to toes. 



309. Centrocercus urophasianus {Bonap.). Sage Grouse. 



Adult male. — Upper parts mottled gray or buffy, irregularly spotted or 

 barred with black or brownish ; in breeding- season tufts of white downy 

 feathers, mixed with black egret- 

 like wiry plumes on shoulders ; 

 yellow air sacs on side of throat ; 

 chest blackish before the breed- 

 ing- season, with black wiry 

 feathers .depending- from the 

 chest band ; chest white after 

 the breeding- season, during- 

 which time the blackish tips 

 are worn off by rubbing- on the 

 ground. Adult female : similar 

 to male but smaller ;ind without 

 rulfs, air sacs, or nuptial plumes ; 

 throat white, chest band spec- 

 kled g-rayish. Young : some- 

 what like adult female but 

 brownish above, markings on 

 under parts, including- black of 

 belly, less distinct. Male: length 

 20-;:]0, wing- 12-13, tail ll-i;). 

 weig-ht 4^S pounds. Female : 

 length 21.50-2:1.00. wing about 

 I0.r)0- 11.00, tail S-0. 



Ijistrihution. — Breeds in sag-e- 

 brush plains of the interior in 

 Upper Sonoran and Transition 

 zones from Assiniboia and Brit- 



iii The Auk. 

 20G. 



From Bond, 

 Fig. 



ish Columl)ia to Utah. Nevada, and California, from the vSierra Nevada and 

 Cascades east to the Dlack Hills, Nebraska, and Colorado. 



Nest. — A slight hollow, with ov without lining, usually under the shelter 

 of a sage bush, but .sometimes near a creek .sheltered by a bunch of high 

 g-ra.ss. F(j[)s : u.^ually 7 to 9, olive buff to greenish brown, marked witli 

 round spots of dark brown. 



Food. — Gras.shoppers, ants, and other insects, with tender plants, leaves, 

 buds, and flowers. 



Throughout the Great Basin and arid i)hiins country, where the 

 most abundant and characteristic plant is the silvery leaved annnatic 

 sagebrush, we find this largest, stiiteliest of North American Tetra- 

 onida', the sago grou.se. It la a bird of the open country, seeking no 

 heavier cover than the low sag(!l)rush and often wandering over bar- 

 ren .slopes or short grass meailows, or in hirge Hocks late in sununer 

 mounting above tlie linilxr belt ul fbc inoiuitains, to find new pas- 

 tures in the stunted growth of sage close to i)er|)etual snow. 



