68 Lloyd's natural history. 



and with distended air-sacs almost hiding the head, outspread 

 tail, and trailing wings, they strut slowly about before the 

 females, uttering meanwhile low gutteral sounds. The males 

 do not take any part in the incubation, and remain apart till 

 the young are grown. In autumn the birds pack, and may 

 then be seen in large numbers. 



The stomach of the Sage Grouse differs from that of all 

 other Game Birds in being soft, very different from the mus- 

 cular gizzard found in all the allied forms. 



Nest,— A slight hole scratched in the ground, with little or 

 no lining ; generally placed under the shelter of a small sage- 

 bush. 



Eggs. — Seven to nine in number, sometimes more, as many 

 as seventeen having been found in a nest. Colour varying 

 from olive-buff to greenish-brown, rather heavily dotted all over 

 with well-defined chocolate-brown spots. Average measure- 

 ments, 2*2 inches by 1*5. 



THE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. GENUS PEDICECETES. 



PedioccEtes, Baird, Rep. Expl. & Surv. ix. pt. 2, Zool. p. 625 

 (1858). 



Type, P, phasianellus (Linn.). 



Toes naked and pectinate along the sides. Tail rather long 

 and wedge-shaped, composed of eighteen feathers, the middle 

 pair being more than twice as long as the outer pair. 



The males are provided with an inflatable air-sac on each 

 side of the neck, but have no elongate neck-tufts. 



I. THE NORTHERN SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. PEDICECETES 

 PHASIANELLUS. 



Tetrao phasianellus, Linn. S. N. i. p. 273 (1766). 



Pedioccetes kennicotti, Suckl. P. Ac. Philad. 1861, pp. 334, 361. 



Pedioccetes phasianellus, Elliot, P. Ac. Philad. 1862, p. 403; 



Bendire, Life Hist. N. Am. B. p. 97, pi. iii. figs. 3-5 (1892) ; 



Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 82 (1893). 



