THE SAGE GROUSE: 601 
of reducing seeds, grains, or even hard-shelled beetles. The bird’s spring 
diet is varied by many kinds of tender herbage, and in summer it consumes 
quantities of crickets, grasshoppers and other insects, but sage is eaten at all 
seasons and forms its exclusive ration in winter. 
In spite of this monotonous and bitter fare the flesh of the adult Sage 
Grouse is far from unpalatable, especially if speedily prepared; while birds of 
the year in the fall are as wholesome as those of any other species. In fact, 
much that has been written about “fishy” ducks and “sagey” grouse has been 
derived from specimens left about undrawn until the characteristic flavors of 
the intestinal contents have permeated the flesh,—obviously, an unfair test in 
case of a pronounced diet either of clams or wormwood. 
Sage Grouse move about in coveys, family groups, in which the mother 
remains a central figure, until late autumn. At that season several coveys 
may unite to form a “pack,” and the male birds are allowed to rejoin the 
company. Stories are told of bands numbering up to a thousand, but small 
flocks are the rule. These Grouse, like all others in America, with the partial 
exception of the Pinnated, are non-migratory; but they are mildly nomadic 
in their habits, moving about in the flocking season from one portion of their 
local range to another. i 
Altho far larger—inales weigh five or six pounds, and eight-pound birds 
are of record—the Sage Grouse resembles the Sharp-tail in many ways. Like 
the latter it will crouch low upon the ground, or, especially if the passerby be 
on horse-back or in a wagon, will “freeze” beside a sage bush in hopes of 
escaping detection. When put to flight it has the same harsh rattle or cackle, 
increased in proportion to its size. It rises heavily with violent exertion of 
alternating wing-strokes, and after each repetition of such efforts, rests in 
long stiff sails. The birds lie well to a dog, or not, according to circumstances, 
and a flock is seldom found lying as close together as is the case with Sharp- 
tailed Grouse. 
In the courting antics of this valiant son of the desert, Nature has in- 
dulged a fresh fancy. Indeed, it is to be suspected that the Dame takes a 
special delight in making some of the most staid and prosaic of her male 
progeny appear in a ridiculous light, when under the influence of the tender 
passion. This grizzled veteran of the wormwood does not express his senti- 
ment with either dignity or grace. No; he first inflates the air sacs, which line 
his neck, until they assume alarming proportions, meeting in front and fre- 
quently engulfing his head; the tail with its spiny feathers is spread to the 
utmost and pointed skyward ; then the gallant pitches forward and casts off for 
a belly-buster slide over the ground, not without much assistance of propulsive 
feet in approved “kid” fashion. As a result of this ridiculous dry-land swim, 
the feathers of the breast are worn off at the tips till only the quills protrude. 
These ragged quill-ends, in being forced over the earth, produce a mild roar 
