SAGE HEN" 309 



In the days of their abundance they used to gather in immense 

 packs in fall. Bendire (1892) quotes the following from notes sent 

 to him by Dr. George Bird Grinnell : 



In western Wyoming the Sage Grouse packs in September and October. In 

 October, 1886, when camped just below a high bluff on the border of Bates Hole, 

 in Wyoming, I saw great numbers of these birds, just after sunrise, flying over 

 my camp to the little spring which oozed out of the bluff 200 yards away. 

 Looking up from the tent at the edge of the bluff above us, we could see pro- 

 jecting over it the heads of hundreds of the birds, and, as those standing there 

 took flight, others stepped forward to occupy their places. The number of 

 Grouse which flew over the camp reminded me of the oldtime flights of Passen- 

 ger Pigeons that I used to see when I was a boy. Before long the narrow valley 

 where the water was, was a moving mass of gray. I have no means whatever 

 of estimating the number of birds which I saw, but there must have been thou- 

 sands of them. 



Winter. — Unless the snow is too deep the sage grouse seek shelter 

 from the winter storms and blizzards in the denser clumps of sage- 

 brush on their favorite plains or find protection in the brushy valleys 

 of the streams, in coulees, or in sheltered hollows. Sandys (1904) 

 writes : 



As winter tightens its grip upon the sage lands, the birds of many broods 

 unite into packs of from fifty to one hundred and odd. The flush of one of 

 these large packs is something to be remembered, for great is the tumult of 

 wings, and piercing the cackling, as the heavy fowl beat the air in frantic efforts 

 to get squared away upon their chosen course. At this season the only way 

 to get any sport out of them is by using the rifle. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Western United States and casually in the interior of 

 southwestern Canada. 



The range of the sage grouse has been greatly restricted through 

 the development of the West and through grazing activities, partic- 

 ularly of sheep, which do much to extirpate the birds over wide areas. 

 The full range apparently extended north to (casually) the interior 

 of southern British Columbia (Osoyoos Lake) ; southern Saskatche- 

 wan (casually Skull Creek, Val Marie, and casually Pinto Creek) ; 

 North Dakota (Marmarth, Deep Creek, and formerly Fort Bert- 

 hold) ; and formerly northeastern South Dakota (Grand River 

 Agency and Fort Sisseton). East to South Dakota (formerly Fort 

 Sisseton, Indian Creek, formerly Eapid City, and formerly Sage 

 Creek) ; northwestern Nebraska (Antelope Creek) ; southeastern 

 Wyoming (Marshall, Arlington, and Cheyenne) ; Colorado (Walden, 

 Kremmling, Dillon, Lone Cone, and Dolores) ; and formerly north- 

 ern New Mexico (Tres Piedras). South to formerly New Mexico 

 (Tres Piedras and Tierra Amarilla) ; southern Utah (Grass Valley 

 74564—32 21 



