SAGE GROUSE 281 



Except when in flight, the sage grouse is deliberate 

 in its movements, and I have seldom seen a bird on foot 

 that appeared to hurry. More often they walk delib- 

 erately along, with heads stretched high, watching the 

 intruder until the time comes for flight, when they 

 spring from the ground with the cackling cry already 

 mentioned and soon disappear over the next hill. The 

 flight is often very much extended. 



The only occasion when I recall seeing a sage grouse 

 run was once when a bird that I had started flew several 

 hundred yards and alighted in plain sight on a hillside 

 on the other side of a valley. A marsh hawk, which 

 was hunting near where the grouse alighted, flew to it 

 and several times stooped at it and appeared to reach 

 for it with its feet. The grouse at once started and 

 ran swiftly along the hillside until it reached some high 

 sage brush, the hawk following and now and then 

 making a clumsy dive at it. 



