SAGE GROUSE. 137 
leaves and the tender portions of plants. It is a hardy 
bird, bearing the extremes of heat and cold apparently 
without inconvenience, and I have seen it walking 
leisurely about under the rays of a torrid sun, or exposed 
to the fierce, keen blasts of a December storm that 
would make most creatures seek the nearest shelter. 
During the blizzards and other heavy storms that so 
frequently sweep over the country it inhabits, the Sage 
Cock takes refuge amid the dense clumps of the sage 
bushes, or in the ‘ coulées”” or small valleys that inter- 
sect the plains at intervals, where it obtains sufficient 
protection from the blasts. Although this species is so 
large, its plumage harmonizes so well with the bird’s 
surroundings that it is at times exceedingly diff- 
cult to see it, and it is not an unusual occurrence to pass 
within a few feet of one or more Sage Grouse, without 
noticing them at all, if they remain motionless, as they 
generally do. Early in March the pairing season begins, 
and the male commences to court the females. His 
actions at this time are not unlike those of the Pinnated 
and Sharp-tailed Grouse already described, but the air 
sacs on each side of the neck, when inflated, are so 
enormous that the bird appears much more grotesque 
than the males of the other species. These air bladders 
extend both forward and upward, and his head prac- 
tically disappears between them, making his neck seem 
altogether too top-heavy for him to preserve his balance. 
The long pointed feathers of the tail are spread out to 
the fullest extent, the wings trail along the ground, and 
the spiny feathers along the air sacs stand straight out. 
In this ludicrous attitude, which no doubt the bird con- 
siders as the very acme of perfect beauty and attractive- 
ness, he struts before the admiring gaze of the assembled 
hens, uttering subdued guttural sounds. This exhibition 
