SAGE GROUSE 277 



wearing away of the stiff feathers on the lower neck 

 and upper breast so often noticed in this species. 



The nest of the sage grouse is usually placed at the 

 foot of some sage bush, or sometimes at the foot of a 

 bunch of rye grass, whose outer leaves, bending over, 

 may conceal the nest. Commonly it contains from 

 eight to eleven eggs, nearly as large as a hen's egg, 

 greenish white or brownish in color, more or less 

 heavily spotted with round, but not large, dots of 

 brown and blackish. The period of incubation is given 

 as twenty-two days. 



There is little or no nest, and the eggs lie in a mere 

 hollow scratched out in the bare ground. The sitting 

 bird harmonizes so wonderfully with the ground on 

 which she rests that one may pass within a foot or two 

 without seeing her. 



Major Bendire quotes Captain William L. Car- 

 penter, U. S. A., who says: "I found a nest at Fort 

 Bridger, Wyoming where this species is numerous 

 June i, with nine fresh eggs. I was standing alongside 

 a sage bush watching butterflies, several times looking 

 down carelessly without seeing anything unusual, 

 when, happening again to glance at the foot of the 

 bush in the very place before observed, I saw the wink- 

 ing of an eye. Looking more intently, a grayish mass 

 was discerned, blending perfectly with the color of the 

 bush, which outlined itself into the form of a sage hen 

 not 2 feet from my foot. She certainly would have 

 been overlooked had not the movement of her eyelids 

 attracted my attention. I stood there fully five minutes 



