' COCK OF THE PLAINS: 225 



When she has twelve or fifteen she commences sitting. 

 The period of incubation is said to be twenty-one days. 

 The chicks gain strength very rapidly, and, in a day or 

 two from her first pip, the mother walks forth with her 

 brood. Until the little ones are well able to take care 

 of themselves she keeps them near thick cover, where 

 they are comparatively secure from the attacks of hawks, 

 but all join the pack while the young are yet small. I 

 have seen packs numbering not less than several hundred 

 birds, of all ages and sizes, from huge old cocks of appa- 

 rently ten or twelve pounds, to chicks not larger than 

 quails. 



In spite of the identity of habits of this grouse with 

 those of the barn-yard fowl, it appears to be impossible either 

 to cross the two, or to domesticate the grouse. Several 

 persons have told me of the utter failure of persistent and 

 well-directed efforts. They have set the eggs under the 

 common hen, but as soon as hatched the little ones 

 desert their foster mother, and run into cover. If 

 hatched and kept in a coop, they refuse food, wear 

 themselves out in continued efforts to escape, and soon die. 



There is a common prejudice against this grouse, on 

 the ground that its flesh is said to taste strongly of the 

 sage which is its principal food in winter. My experi- 

 ence is that this is simply imagination. I have never 

 been able to discover such a taste, and I have eaten them 

 at all seasons of the year. I must admit, however, that 

 when I have shot them in winter I have so far yielded to 

 the prejudice as to remove the crop at once. At all other 

 seasons of the year they feed, as other birds do, on in- 

 sects, principally grasshoppers, and I have frequently 

 opened crops which were distended to the utmost with 

 these plagues. To my taste, there is no bird (except the 

 field plover) so perfectly delicious as the young sage 

 grouse during the month of August. It is as juicy, tender, 

 and delicate as a spring chicken, besides having the 

 richest game flavour. 



Q 



