THE SAGE GROUSE. 599 



'floor,' taking the shortest of steps, but stamping its feet so hard and rapidly 

 that the sound is Hke that of a kettle drum ; at the same time it utters a sort of 

 bubbling crow, which seems to come from the air sacs, beats the air with its 

 wings, and vibrates its tail so that it produces a low, rustling noise, and thus 

 contrives at once to make as extraordinar}- a spectacle of itself and as much 

 noise as possible. 



"As soon as one commences all join in. rattling, stamping, drumming, 

 crowing, and dancing together furiously ; louder and louder the noise, faster 

 and faster the dance becomes, until at last, as they madly whirl about, the 

 birds are leaping over each other in their excitement. After a brief spell the 

 energv of the dancers begins to abate, and shortly afterward they cease or 

 stand and move about very cjuietly, until they are again started by one of 

 their numljer "leading otf.' 



"The space occupied by the dancers is from 50 to 100 feet across, and as 

 it is returned to year after year, the grass is usually worn otf and the ground 

 tram]5led down hard and smooth. The whole performance reminds one so 

 strongly of a Cree dance as to suggest the possibility of its being the prototype 

 of the Indian exercises." 



No. 237- 



SAGE GROUSE. 



A. O. U. No. 309. Centrocercus urophasianiis (Bonap. ). 



Synonyms. — S.\GE Cock. S.^ge Hex. Cdck of the Plains. 



Description. — Adult male: Above mingled butfy and grayish, varied ir- 

 regidarlv with black ; many cif the wing- feathers with central wliite streaks, the 

 tertials bordered terminallv with white: wing-(|uills grayish brcjwn, sometimes 

 mottled on outer webs with paler; chin and throat broadly mingled black and 

 white, defined laterally by crescentic area of white; lower throat black, the 

 feathers bordered more or less with grayish white ; chest gray ; belly black sur- 

 rounded bv white; lower tail-coverts black, broadly tipped with wliite; lining of 

 wings white. "To describe the peculiar neck-feathering of the did cock more 

 particularly : On each side is a patch of feathers, meeting in front, with extremely 

 stiff bases, prolonged into hair-like filaments about 3.00 in length; with the 

 wearing away of these feathers in the peculiar actions of the bird in pairing-time, 

 their hard hornv bases are left, forming "fish-scales.' In front of these peculiar 

 feathers is the naked tympanum, capable of enormous inflation under amatory 

 excitement. Above them is a tuft of down-feathers, covered with a set of long 

 soft filamentous plumes corresponding to the ruff of Bonasa. Many breast- 

 feathers resemble the scalv ones of the neck, and are commonly found worn to 

 a bristly "thread-bare' state. Scaly bases of these feathers soiled white; thready 



