416 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
the wing. In the late summer or early autumn it may 
be seen stalking about over the ground, walking quite 
differently from some of our other grouse, holding 
the head and tail erect and lifting its feet quite high, 
as if stepping over some obstacle before it. It is not 
easy to recognize in this seemingly absurd, affected bird 
the ball of feathers that a month later will rise from 
before your dog and speedily be out of range. 
In some parts of the country I have heard gunners 
speak disparagingly of the sharp-tailed grouse, per- 
haps for no better reason than that they fly more 
swiftly and rise with more tumult than the pinnated 
grouse; but I regard them as one of the finest of our 
game birds. 
SAGE GROUSE SHOOTING 
The sage grouse, which has its home on the high, 
dry plains, where grows the artemisia, harmonizes in 
color with the gray soil and gray stems of the sage 
brush to an extraordinary degree. When the sage 
grows high, and, as is often the case in river bottoms, 
is interrupted by frequent clumps of rye grass, one 
may even walk into a brood of the birds without see- 
ing them, and perhaps have them rise all about him; 
or, on a sudden, his eye may catch a dozen heads, on 
tall, straight necks, staring at him from every side. 
The sage hen, it must be confessed, does not convey 
to the observer the idea of a game bird. When tame 
it is so gentle and unsuspicious, and when shy so 
