180 UPLAND SHOOTING. 



upland valleys. Up to this time their food has been of 

 the most tempting and delicate kind, and this makes 

 them a treat for the epicure; but, unfortunately, they are 

 very tender birds, and, no matter how carefully packed, 

 will not bear transportation as well as do most similar 

 species. 



With September, berries and green shoots fail, and 

 then they eat cedar-berries, pine-nuts, and other articles 

 of similar flavor, until their flesh reminds one of spruce 

 gum; but this taste is not disagreeable, nor do they ever 

 become so saturated with the rank essential oils that are 

 to be found in their winter food as do the sage-hens. 



Snow falls early in these mountains, and, with the 

 first squall, there is another change in their mode of life. 

 All the birds, old and young, male and female, assemble 

 in large packs, and select some place for passing the 

 winter. They do not come from diiferent sections in a 

 migratory wave, but those families that have spent the 

 summer here and there along some stream, all assemble 

 near its head-waters and choose a camping-ground. This 

 is generally among the evergreens, where they can find 

 food and shelter beneath the decumbent branches. The 

 winter plumage now appears, and, though the birds grow 

 exceedingly wild, they will not allow themselves to be 

 separated when once the pack has been f ormed. The males 

 appear much more gray in winter than in summer, and 

 so nearly are the V-shaped markings obliterated that the 

 male and the female seem to belong to different species, 

 especially as the sexes, when in the pack, do not mingle, 

 but each keeps its own side of the yard. During the 

 winter season they roost upon the pine-branches, and on 

 very cold days, unless a storm is threatening, prefer not 

 to leave their perches. At this time the usually wary 

 bird may be shot from the boughs, and sometimes three 

 or four shots may be fired before the flock flies away. 



