CENTROCEECUS UROPHASIANUS, SAGE COCK. 403 



tanee from water. The flesh of this bird is rather strong- and bitter, 

 from the nature of its food, aud it quickly decomposes after death." 



Dr. Suckley's account of the diet of these birds is, however, too ex- 

 clusive. They certainly eat various insects, especially grasshoppers, and 

 an indiscriminate variety of vegetable substances. Mr. Eidgway iu- 

 for?ns me of an interesting fact : that the gizzard of the Sage Cock is a 

 slightly muscular membranous bag, quite different from the strong, 

 dense '' grist-mill" of ordinary GaUincc. The point has been recorded in 

 the following terms : 



"A peculiarity of this species, which I have not seen noticed, is that 

 its stomach, instead of being hard and very muscular as in other Galli- 

 nacea, is soft and membraneous, like that of the birds of prey. This 

 was first tokl me by hunters in Nevada, and I afterward satislied myself 

 of the truth of their statement that the Sage Hen "has no gizzard," 

 by dissecting a sufficient number of individuals. This bird is never 

 known to eat gTaiu, but subsists almost entirely upon green leaves of 

 artemisia and on grasshoppers." — [Am. Nat. viii, 1874.) 



The same feature is also noticed by a late writer in Forest and Stream, 

 in the following article, which I reproduce, somewhat abbreviated : 



"A measurement of the picture gives length of bill and head 3 inches, 

 neck 7, body 14, and tail 10 inches ; total, 34 inches. Its actual weight 

 in feather was seven pounds, and it was a fair specimen of a full-grown 

 male bird, the female being about two pounds less. The attitude is 

 characteristic, half crouching as it steals off when alarmed. The color 

 is also true to life, black and brown, mottled with white, except the 

 breast, where white predominates. You will perceive, also, that the legs 

 are slightly feathered. A remarkable feature of the bird is, that it has 

 no gizzard ; and in hundreds examined, no seeds, grain, or insects were 

 ever found in the craM", or rather paunch, which is very large. This lack 

 of a gizzard indicates it to be a browser, aud not a grain eater. Its food 

 is principally the artemisia or wild sage, though indications of the leaves 

 and buds of the grease-wood and various grasses were sometimes found. 

 1 have never met with it where the wild sage did not abound. 



"I notice that some of your corresi)ondents state that it is scarcely 

 eatable on account of the bitter taste caused by the artemisia. Here is 

 the remedy : Immediately after killing, draw the bird, thoroughly re- 

 moving the intestines and their contents, but all other dressing can be 

 delayed till camp is reached. Treated in this manner it has no disa- 

 greeable taste. This is what we should expect, when it is recollected 

 that in all animals the peculiarities of food pass off by secretions 

 through the natural channels. The milk and butter of a cow feeding 

 upon wild garlic, cabbage, rag-weed, »S:c., will be tainted with their pe- 

 culiar qualities, but the flesh is not. So when the bird is dead the oi)era- 

 tions of the body cease, absorption commences, and the contents of the 

 intestines begin to aflect the liesh. The power of life to resist absorp- 

 tion and decay are as wonderful as mysterious. A live tish iu salt water 

 continues fresh. The rubbing of salt upon a live hog's back would 

 hardly cure the meat, but when slaughtered, it takes up the salt through 

 skin and flesh alike. But perhaps too much upon this familiar principle, 

 unless it serves to redeem this magnificent bii<l from its unluckv reputa- 

 tion. The flesh is quite dark and rather dry, but when the l)iril is about 

 two-thirds grown, with the bitter taste i)revented in the manner I have 

 described, it is not easy for a hungry man to tind fault with it, esi»ecially 

 iu canq>. I notice also that a corrcspoiuleut says that it does not lie well 

 before a dog; I have not Ibund it so under favorable circumstances. 

 When there is reasonable cover, its conduct in that respect is better 



