The Sage Grouse 363 



is unable to produce the musical booming sound of the Prairie Chicken, 

 the forcible expulsion of the air from the sacks producing an incon- 

 sequential chuckling noise only ; nevertheless the bird offers reasonable 

 entertainment to any individual who will rise early and stroll out into 

 the sagebrush a hundred yards from the camp-fire. 



"During the months of April and May the Sage Cocks are usually 

 found in small flocks of a half dozen or more, stalking about with tails 

 erect and spread after the manner of the strutting Turkey-cock, but I 

 have never seen the Grouse dragging their wings upon the ground, 

 Turkey fashion, and in the manner described by , 



Dr. Xewberry in the quotation from this author Foremost' 



found on page 406 of Dr. Coues's 'Birds of 



the Xorthwest ;' nor have I ever found a wing of a Sage Cock, in this 

 or any other season, which exhibited the slightest wearing away of the 

 primaries. 



"Instead of dragging its wings upon the ground the excited Sage 

 Cock will enormously inflate the air-sacs of the neck until the whole 

 neck and breast is balloon-like in appearance, then, stooping forward, 

 almost the entire weight of the body is thrown upon the distended 

 portion and the bird slides along on the bare ground or short grass 

 for some distance, the performance being concluded by the expulsion of 

 the air from the sacks with a variety of chuckling, cackling or rumbling 

 sounds. The performance is continued probably daily, during the pairing 

 and nesting season, and of course the feathers are worn away by the 

 constant friction." 



Mr. E. S. Cameron, who has studied the habits of the Sage Grouse 

 in Montana, makes further comments on the peculiar antics of these 

 birds when in spring the mating instinct becomes strongly developed. 

 In part he says : 



"During the first half of April the males repair to a regular 'play- 

 ground,' but it is a difficult matter to observe their love-antics on account 

 of the encompassing sage. However, on April 7, 1896, my wife and 

 I happened to ride close upon a number of old cocks, near our ranch, 

 which were engaged with their play in a small open space. They never 

 fought nor threatened each other, but strutted or paraded before some 

 hens concealed in the sage-bushes, and were entirely occupied with a 

 most grotesque rivalry. By ruffling up all their 

 feathers, spreading their tails, and dragging their 

 wings along the ground, they looked much 

 larger than they really were, while they produced a rattling sound with 

 their quills after the manner of Turkey-cocks and Peafowl. At the same 

 time they continuously uttered a kind of whistling challenge, and, distend 

 ing their necks by means of their air-sacs, erected an enormous white 

 rufT. As the playground was small the eight or nine cocks upon it were 

 in imminent danger of a collision, but for the ten minutes that \ve watched 

 them this did not take place, nor were there any moments of ecstatic 



