Grouse. 91 



saddle. I had drawn it as soon as it was picked up, and 

 I made up my mind to try how it tasted. A good deal 

 to our surprise, the meat, though dark and coarse-grained, 

 proved perfectly well flavored, and was quite as good as 

 wild-goose, which it much resembled. Some young sage 

 fowl, shot shortly afterward, proved tender and juicy, and 

 tasted quite as well as sharp-tails. All of these birds had 

 their crops crammed with grasshoppers, and doubtless 

 the nature of their food had much to do with their prov- 

 ing so good for the table. An old bird, which had fed on 

 nothing but sage, and was not drawn when shot, would, 

 beyond question, be very poor eating. Like the spruce 

 grouse and the two kinds of prairie fowl, but unlike the 

 ruffed grouse and blue grouse, the sage fowl has dark 

 meat. 



In walking and running on the ground, sage fowl act 

 much like common hens, and can skulk through the sage- 

 brush so fast that it is often difficult to make them take 

 wing. When surprised they will sometimes squat flat 

 down with their heads on the ground, when it is very 

 difficult to make them out, as their upper parts har- 

 monize curiously in color with the surroundings. I have 

 never known of their being shot over a dog, and, indeed, 

 the country where they are found is so dry and difficult 

 that no dog would be able to do any work in it. 



When flushed, they rise with a loud whirring, laboring 

 heavily, often clucking hoarsely ; when they get fairly 

 under way they move along in a strong, steady flight, 

 sailing most of the time, but giving, every now and then, 

 a succession of powerful wing-beats, and their course is 



