306 BULLETIN 16 2, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Behavior.— Dr. D. G. Elliot (1897) says: 



It is not always easy to flush these birds, as they will run long distances before 

 taking wing, and skulk and hide at every opportunity. But when forced to 

 rise, they flush with a great fluttering of the wings and utter a loud kek-kek-kek, 

 which kind of cackle is kept up for quite a considerable time. They seem to 

 have difficulty in getting well on the wing, and rise heavily, wabbling from side 

 to side as if trying to gain an equilibrium, but once started they go far and 

 fast enough, with intermittent quick beats of the pinions and easy sailing on 

 motionless wings. 



Mr. Finley refers in his notes to their morning flights for water, 

 as follows : 



September 22, Horsfall and I were up at 4.40 a. m., left the cabin at 5.40, just 

 as it was getting light. As we walked down the long draw, through which 

 Warner Creek winds back and forth, we saw sage grouse coming in to water. 

 They came from the rimrocks and higher plateaus, perhaps from several miles 

 away, as some of them sailed down from high over the rimrock, showing that 

 they had come from a second high rimrock about a mile back. They came in 

 singles, in small flocks of from 8 to 10, occasionally larger flocks numbering 

 30 or 40. They lit out in the open at 100 or 200 yards back from the creek, and 

 then walked down to water. In a short distance I counted 150 birds. From 

 the cabin down to a small reservoir, where the water was backed up covering 

 several acres of ground, there must have been 1,500 to 2,000 birds. Around 

 the reservoir site there was also a larger number. It was the same along 

 the creek above the cabin, where it winds through meadow and sagebrush. The 

 grouse do not frequent the water at all during the middle of the day, and 

 we found very few toward evening. They seem to come in before daybreak, 

 and a little after many have departed for the high plateau, by 6 o'clock 

 or before sunrise. By 8 o'clock all had departed. 



Bendire (1892) quotes Dr. George Bird Grinnell as stating: 



On a very few occasions I have seen the Sage Grouse standing on the 

 branches of a sage bush, sometimes 2 or 3 feet from the ground, but I imagine 

 that this is quite an unusual position for the bird. This species, commonly, I 

 think, goes to water twice a day, flying down to the springs and creek bottoms 

 to drink in the evening, then feeding away a short distance, but roosting 

 near at hand. In the morning they drink again and spend the middle of the 

 day on the upland. The young birds, when feeding together, constantly call 

 to one another with a low peeping cry, which is audible only for a short distance. 

 This habit I have noticed in several other species of our Grouse, notably in 

 the Dusky Grouse and the Sharp-tail. 



Coues (1874) quotes from Doctor Newberry's account, as follows: 



A very fine male which I killed there was passed by nearly the whole party, 

 within thirty feet, in open ground. I noticed him as soon, perhaps, as he saw us, 

 and waited to watch his movements. As the train approached he sank down on 

 the ground, depressing his head, and lying as motionless as a stick or root, 

 which he greatly resembled. After the party had passed I moved toward him, 

 when he depressed his head till it rested on the ground, and evidently made 

 himself as small as possible. He did not move till I had approached within 

 15 feet of him, when he arose and I shot him. 



