OF A RANCHMAN 151 



zard, such as most gallinaceous birds have, 

 but has in its place a membranous stomach, 

 suited to the digestion of its peculiar food. 



The little chicks follow their mother as 

 soon as hatched, and she generally keeps 

 them in the midst of some patch of sage- 

 brush so dense as to be almost impene- 

 irable to man or beast. The little fellows 

 skulk and dodge through the crooked 

 stems so cleverly that it is almost im- 

 possible to catch them. Early in August, 

 when the brood is well grown, the mother 

 leads them out, and during the next two 

 months they are more often found out on 

 the grassy prairies than is the case at any 

 other season. They do not form into packs 

 like the prairie fowl as winter comes on, 

 two broods at the outside occasionally com- 

 ing together ; and they then again retire to 

 the more waste parts of the plains, living 

 purely on sage leaves, and keeping closely 

 to the best-sheltered hollows until the 

 spring-time. 



In the early part of the season the young, 



