134 GAME BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



keep much about cultivated lands, and enter fields prob- 

 ably more for the insects they may be able to find there 

 than with the view of obtaining grain. The flesh of the 

 Prairie Sharp-tail is like its congeners', light-colored when 

 the bird is young but dark in the adult, and if you are not 

 compelled by stress of circumstances to eat it three times 

 a day, as I have been, is very palatable. It is a noble 

 bird, game in the fullest and truest sense of the word, 

 and presents a beautiful sight as it walks easily and grace- 

 fully over the prairie, raising at intervals its lengthened 

 crest, and looking back at its observer, with its clear 

 liquid eyes betokening a trust and confidence that is, alas! 

 too often misplaced. The Sharp-tailed and the Pinnated 

 Grouse often meet on the limits of their dispersion, but 

 rarely mingle together, for they are deadly enemies and 

 engage in desperate battles; the habits and dispositions 

 of the birds causing them to lead different lives and seek 

 dissimilar habitats. To my mind the Sharp-tail is the 

 finer and handsomer bird. 



PEDICECETES PHASIANELLUS CAMPESTRIS. 



Geographical Dis/ri'biition. — Prairies east of Rocky Moun- 

 tains from Montana to New Mexico, and from Wisconsin and 

 Illinois to Colorado. 



Adult Male. — Entire upper parts, buff, ochraceous upon back 

 and scapulars, blotched and barred with black; scapulars 

 streaked with white, and large white spots on tips of wing-cov- 

 erts; primaries, dark brown, spotted with white on outer webs; 

 spot in front of eye, sides of face and throat, light buff, with a 

 cluster of brown spots on the cheeks; under parts, w^hite, with 

 lengthened V-shaped brown lines on each feather, most numer- 

 ous on breast, where they are the predominant color; middle of 

 abdomen and under tail-coverts, white; central tail feathers ex- 

 tend beyond the rest, and are barred with black and ochraceous; 

 legs, brownish white: maxilla, black, mandible, horn color at 



