568 - GAME BIEDS OF CALIFOENIA 



ance. Tlien stooping forward the whole weight of the body is thrown 

 upon the distended portion and the bird slides along on the bare 

 ground or short grass for some distance, the performance being con- 

 cluded by the expulsion of the air from the sacs with a variety of 

 chuckling, cackling or rumbling sounds. "This performance is con- 

 tinued probably dailj^ during the pairing and nesting season, and of 

 course the feathers are worn away by the constant friction." 

 Coues (1874, p. 406) gives credence to the following account: 



Small eminences on the banks of streams are the places usually selected for 

 celebrating the weddings, the time generally about sunrise. The wings of the 

 male are lowered, buzzing on the gTOund; the tail, spread like a fan, somewhat 

 erect; the bare, yellow oesophagus [air-sacs] inflated to a prodigious size — fully 

 half as large as his body, and, from its soft, membranous substance, being well 

 contrasted witli the scale-like feathers below it on the breast, and the flexible, 

 silky feathers on the neck, which on these occasions stand erect. In this gi-otesque 

 form he displays, in the presence of his intended mate, a variety of attitudes. 

 His love-song is a confused, prating, but not offensively disagreeable, tone — 

 something that we can imitate, but have difficulty in expressing — Imrr-hurr-hurr- 

 r-r-r-hoo, ending in a deep, hollow tone, not unlike the sound produced by blowing 

 into a large reed. 



In Harney County, Oregon, Bendire (1892, p. 109) found Sage- 

 hens beginning to nest about the middle of April. One set of nine 

 slightly incubated eggs was taken on April 7, 1877. Fresh eggs 

 were found as late as June 2. But one brood is raised in a season. 

 Tlie nest, as currently described, is always placed on the ground in 

 a slight depression and under the protection of some bush. The loca- 

 tion usually selected in California is near some spring or small stream. 

 The depression used, sometimes, at least, scratched out by the bird, 

 is only slightl}^ lined with leaves and twigs, such as might accumulate 

 naturally ; not infrequently the eggs rest on the ground itself. Seven 

 to nine eggs are laid, occasionally ten or more, even up to seventeen 

 (Bendire, 1892, p. 111). In color they are light greenish drab or 

 pale olive buff, thickly marked with sniall roundish spots and dots of 

 reddish brown. In shape they resemble a small egg of the domestic 

 hen. Coues (1874, p. 406) states that the eggs are narrower and 

 more pointed than those of other American grouse. The average size 

 of 109 specimens in the United States National INIuseum is 2.16 by 

 1.48 inches. The largest egg of the series measures 2.34 by 1.55, the 

 the smallest 2.04 by 1.41 inches (Bendire, loc. cit.). Other authors 

 give the maximum as 2.35 by 1.60. Bendire (1892, p. 110) states 

 that incubation lasts about twenty-two days and that the males 

 keep to themselves and take no part in this work. 



The young are able to take care of themselves immediately after 

 hatching, and within a short time are able to fly. Like other members 

 of the family they are adepts at hiding. At night a covey roosts in 



