GROUSE. 115 



fiiliginosiis. This form is much darker than either of the pre- 

 ceding, but is otherwise similar. 



It would be interesting to test the acclimatization of this beau- 

 tiful bird in the pine forests of the east. Though too wild and 

 shy to be domesticated, it is not more so than the ruffed grouse, 

 and if protected, there is no reason why it might not live and thrive 

 in any pine lands where the latter bird is found. Its present hab- 

 itat is so vast, and much of it so inaccessible, that its numbers are 

 not likely to be materially lessened by sportsmen, and its natural 

 winged and four footed enemies will be as much or more exposed 

 to destruction by man, so that we may look upon it as a per- 

 manency in its present home, and since the mountain passes are 

 becoming threaded with railroads, and miners, herders, and other 

 settlers are scattering through the country, it will be far easier 

 than it has been to secure and transport live birds or their eggs. 

 It is to be hoped the experiment will be tried. 



Centrocerczis urophasianus. — Swainson. Sage Grouse, Cock of the Plains. 



This species is the largest of the North American Grouse, and 

 yields in size only to the giant Cock ot the Woods, or Capercailzie 

 of Europe. In the early season, that is in August and the first 

 half of September, it furnishes fine sport, for it lies well, and when 

 it rises flies so straight and steadily that it is very easily secured. 



The male bird is over two and one-half feet long, and weighs 

 seven pounds or more ; indeed specimens are sometimes said to 

 attain a weight of over ten pounds. The upper parts are varie- 

 gated with black, brown and yellowish grey ; the sides of the lower 

 part of the neck are whitish and are furnished with curious stiff 

 feathers, each of which terminates in a long hair or bristle. The 

 lower part of the breast and the abdomen are black. The females 

 and young males of the first autumn are smaller and lack the stiff 

 neck-feathers of the old males. Such in brief are some of the 

 principal characteristics of this fine Grouse. 



The Sage Grouse is an inhabitant of the high dry plains of the 

 interior, which are covered with a more or less thick growth of 

 the sage brush {Arte7nisia tridentata). On the leaves and buds 

 of this shrub the Grouse chiefly feed, sometimes varying their diet 

 with grasshoppers and berries or the buds of the willow and 



