GROUSE : Family Tetraonidae [ 2.17 ] 



Oregon. Newberry (1857) reported it from Klamath and from the Des- 

 chutes to The Dalles. Suckley (1860) reported young birds near The 

 Dalles as early as April i, 1855, and Elliot (1865) said it was exceedingly 

 abundant. Bendire (1877) reported it from Camp Harney, and both 

 Mearns (1879) anc ^ Merrill (1888) listed it from Fort Klamath. Miller 

 (1904) noted it in Wheeler County. By 1905, Applegate (1905^ con- 

 sidered it rare in the Klamath country. Walker (1917^ reported it from 

 Wasco, Sherman, and Gilliam Counties. Since that date the only record 

 published is Gabrielson's (192^) from Wallowa County. 



We see it occasionally in small flocks, most frequently in the grain 

 country along the north-central boundary of the State. There the wide 

 fields of grain, broken and interrupted by canyons and scab-rock patches 

 grown to bunchgrass, and the original vegetation of the territory pro- 

 vide conditions that permit the species to persist in limited numbers, 

 but continual persecution and shooting, combined with human encroach- 

 ment on its breeding grounds, have so reduced it in numbers that its 

 future as an Oregon bird is precarious. 



Alex Walker has records of two nests, both taken near Miller, at the 

 mouth of the Deschutes River, on April 19, 1935. One contained 13 eggs; 

 the data are missing on the other. The nests were slight hollows in a 

 grainfield and were lined with grasses, grains, stems, and feathers. 



Sage Hen: 



Centrocercus urophasianus (Bonaparte) 



DESCRIPTION. Tail longer than the wings, graduated, feathers pointed, neck with 

 distensible air sacs surmounted by hairlike filaments and erect feathers; tarsus 

 feathered to the toes. Adult male: "Upper parts mottled gray or buffy, irregularly 

 spotted or barred with black or brownish; in breeding season tufts of white downy 

 feathers, mixed with black egret-like wiry plumes on shoulders; yellow air sacs on 

 side of throat; chest blackish before the breeding season, with black wiry feathers 

 depending from the chest band; chest white after the breeding season, during which 

 time the blackish tips are worn off by rubbing on the ground. Adult female: similar 

 to male but smaller and without ruffs, air sacs, or nuptial plumes; throat white, 

 chest band speckled grayish. Young: somewhat like adult female but brownish 

 above, markings on under parts, including black of belly, less distinct." (Bailey) 

 Downy young: "The sage-grouse chick is well colored to escape detection when 

 crouching on the ground in the gray shadows of the desert. The crown, back, and 

 rump are mottled and marbled with black, dull browns, pale buff, and dull white; 

 the sides of the head and neck are boldly spotted and striped with black; there are 

 two large spots of 'sayal brown' bordered with black, on the fore neck or chest; 

 under parts grayish white, suffused with buff on the chest." (Bent) Si%e: "Male, 

 length 2.6-30, wing iz-i}, tail 11-13. Female, length 2.1.50-2.3.00, wing about 

 10.50-11.00, tail 8-9." (Bailey) Nest: A slight hollow near a sage bush, with little 

 or no lining, eggs frequently being deposited on bare ground. Eggs: Usually 7 to 13, 

 sometimes up to 17, olive or olive buff, quite evenly marked with small dark-brown 

 spots. 



