The Sage Grouse is our second largest upland game bird. 

 Males often weigh 6 to 8 pounds and their wings may measure 

 40 inches or more fronn tip to tip. This grouse spends the hot, 

 dry sunnnner in the sagebrush and alfalfa fields in the moister 

 foothills. It returns to the warmer deserts when the snow be- 

 gins to fall. In spring the males gather on their "strutting 

 grounds." They walk about with breasts puffed out in turkey- 

 cock fashion. High over their backs they hold their widely spread, 

 many-pointed tails. Sage Grouse were once very comnnon on our 

 western plains, but during settlement of the West they nearly 

 became extinct. Excessive shooting and grazing alnnost destroyed 

 them. In recent years protective State laws and controlled 

 grazing of cattle on public lands have been bringing them back. 



WILD TURKEY 



The Wild Turkey is our largest and probably our wariest 

 game bird. It resembles the common turkey, butis more stream- 

 lined and has a brown-tipped tail. (The domestic turkey is heavy 

 bodied and has a white -tipped tail.) Despite its great size, the 

 Wild Turkey roosts in trees at night and during bad weather. 

 It travels far on powerful legs, covering 4 or 5 square miles 

 in a day seeking food and water. Fires, severe droughts, over- 

 shooting, and land clearing caused the Wild Turkey to disappear 

 from much of its range by 1910. But in recent years the Turkey 

 has been increasing. Some States have helped by stocking birds 

 in suitable places and protecting them from predators and over- 

 shooting. Today the Wild Turkey is widely distributed over the 

 country. It even is found in States where it did not formerly occur. 



CHACHALACA 



Chukar 



The long -tailed Chachalaca makes its home in dense jungles 

 of ebony, palnnetto, and thorny shrubs along the Rio Grande. 

 It is a Central American bird that lives as far north as the 

 southernmost tip of Texas. In early morning and at dusk the 

 discordant cries of the birds. Cha-cha-lac , are heard. The hen 

 builds her nest of interlaced twigs in the dense foliage of a 

 small tree. She carries her chicks to the ground, clinging 

 tightly to her legs, as soon as their feathers are dry. Land 

 clearing along the Rio Grande is destroying the living areas of 

 the Chachalaca in Texas. To save these unusual birds the State 

 is acquiring tracts of brushland in the lower Rio Grande Valley 

 as refuge areas. 



BIRDS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES 



Wild Turkey 



Through the years our upland game birds have disappeared 

 from many parts of the United States. Into these places left 

 vacant by our native birds we have introduced birds from other 

 countries. Ring-necked Pheasants from Europe and Asia have 

 grown abundant on grain farms of the Great Plains. Hungarian 

 Partridges thrive in highly agricultural areas of the northern 

 plains and prairies. Chukars prosper in barren, rocky wastes 

 of the West on lands not used to any extent by native birds. 



If you wish more infornnation on the ranges of these birds 

 send 30^ to the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government 

 Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C, and ask for Circular 34, 

 Distribution of Annerican Gallinaceous Birds. 



Hungarian Partridge 



