280 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



evening, then feeding away a short distance, but roost- 

 ing near at hand. In the morning they drink again and 

 spend the middle of the day on the upland. The young 

 birds, when feeding together, constantly call to one 

 another with a low, peeping cry, which is audible only 

 for a short distance. This habit I have noticed in 

 several other species of our grouse, notably in the 

 dusky grouse and sharp-tail. 



"In western Wyoming the sage grouse packs in Sep- 

 tember and October. In October, 1886, when camped 

 just below a high bluff on the border of Bates' Hole 

 in Wyoming, I saw great numbers of these birds just 

 after sunrise, flying over my camp to the little spring 

 which oozed out of the bluff, 200 yards away. 

 Looking up from the tent at the edge of the bluff above 

 us we could see projecting over it the heads of hundreds 

 of the birds, and as those standing there took flight, 

 others stepped forward to occupy their places. The 

 number of grouse which flew over the camp reminded 

 me of the old-time flights of passenger pigeons that I 

 used to see when I was a boy. Before long the narrow 

 valley where the water was, was a moving mass of 

 gray. I have no means of estimating the number of 

 birds which I saw, but there must have been thousands 

 of them." 



Although the sage hen is a large bird, rises slowly, 

 and lumbers off with a good deal of noise, nevertheless, 

 after they have attained their full growth, it is not 

 always easy to hit these birds when in full flight, espe- 

 cially if going with the wind. 



