274 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YOSEMITE 



about four hundred yards away. When followed up 5 were flushed again, 

 3 from the ground and 2 from the trees. 



One of the above mentioned male birds was shot and its crop was found 

 to contain 1520 needle tips of the lodgepole pine. The bitten-off ends of 

 needles varied from one-fourth to one inch in length. The crop also con- 

 tained a few fragments of very young pistillate cones. The bill of this 

 bird was smeared with pitch. The crop of an adult female grouse obtained 

 at Walker Lake held eleven ripe rose hips, and the gizzard was filled with 

 the hard seeds of the rose, together with grains of quartz which of course 

 had served to grind the resistant portions of the bird's food. 



We have only one incident to record concerning the enemies of the 

 Sierra Grouse. While camped at Walker Lake on September 10, 1915, 

 our packer noted a large hawk eating something in a pine tree. At his 

 approach the hawk flew away, leaving its meal unfinished, and the packer 

 found the remains of a Sierra Grouse. The victim was an old female 

 in worn plumage and had just begun to molt. The hawk had eaten the 

 flesh on one half of the grouse's breast. The identity of this particular 

 hawk must remain unknown; but we have reason to believe the Western 

 Goshawk to be an important enemy of the Sierra Grouse. Tree-climbing 

 carnivores such as the Sierra Pine Marten and Pacific Fisher probably 

 destroy some grouse each year. 



Sage-hen. Centrocercus urophasianus (Bonaparte) 



Field characters. — Largest ground-inhabiting bird in the Yosemite region; fowl-like 

 in general appearance. Tail long with slender, pointed feathers; belly black; rest of 

 plumage a variegated mixture of black, white and varying shades of brown. Takes 

 flight with loudly whirring wings, and when descending sails on set wings. Voice: A 

 slowly repeated hoarse guttural Mfc, kUlc, Mik, uttered when flushed. 



Occurrence. — Eesident in small numbers locally on the open sage-covered levels east 

 of the Sierra Nevada. Eeported west to vicinity of Walker Lake and lower Parker 

 Creek. 



The Sage-hen is restricted in range within the Yosemite region and 

 will not come under the observation of any save those who cross the Sierran 

 divide and traverse the Mono Basin. The name Sage-hen Meadow given 

 on the topographic map to a spring-fed patch of grass on a sagebrush flat 

 about six miles east of Mono Mills well marks the present metropolis of 

 this bird in the region. Residents say Sage-hens were seen in the winter 

 of 1915-16 between Walker Lake and Parker Creek and that they were 

 common there ten years previously ; but we observed none there ourselves. 



Near Gaspipe Spring, east of Mono Mills, on April 26, 1916, a single 

 large male of this species was flushed by Mr. Dixon at the edge of a snow 

 bank. The bird whirred rapidly over the snowcapped ridge, then set his 



