SAGE COCK ; COCK OF THE PLAINS. 161 



rise until he had arrived within fifteen feet of it. West of 

 the Cascade Range it did not occur, and all its preferences 

 and habits seemed to fit it for the occupancy of the sterile 

 region of the central desert. Its flesh is dark and highly 

 flavored with the wormwood. The young, if parboiled 

 and stewed, are said to be quite good ; but, on the whole, 

 this Grouse is inferior for the table to any other American 

 species. 



Dr. Cooper gives this bird as common in Washington 

 Territory, on the high barren hills and deserts east of the 

 Cascade Mountains, and limited in its range by the growth 

 of the Artemisia tridentata, the leaves of which shrub seem 

 to be the principal part of its food ; the flesh tasting so 

 strongly of it as to be unpalatable. He saw none north of 

 the Spokane Plains, the country being apparently too 

 woody. On those plains they were very common. He 

 describes its flight as more heavy and less noisy than that 

 of most Grouse, and when they are started, it commonly 

 extends a long distance before alighting. 



Dr. Suckley found the Sage-Cock abundant on the plains 

 of Oregon, near Snake River, on both sides of the Blue 

 Mountains, as also along the line of the Columbia, on the 

 open plains, and on the sage-barrens of the Yakima and 

 Simcoe Valleys, in fact, wherever the artemisia was found. 

 The leaves of this shrub either are preferred or are neces- 

 sary to its existence, for no other food was found in their 

 full stomachs, even in localities where abundance of grass 

 seed, wild grain, grass hoppers, and other kinds of food, 

 might be found. This species has apparently the power of 

 going a long while without water. Lieutenant Fleming 

 informed Dr. Suckley that he found them about twelve miles 

 west of Fort Laramie, but they were not seen east of that 

 point so far south. In August, 1853, one was procured 

 about two hundred miles east of the Rocky Mountains. 

 He also observed a small flock on the plains bordering on 

 Milk River, in Nebraska. Near Soda Lake, the sink of 

 the Mohavc River, Dr. Cooper met it, which is without 



21 



