416 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



the wing. In the late summer or early autumn it may 

 be seen stalking about over the ground, walking quite 

 differently from some of our other grouse, holding 

 the head and tail erect and lifting its feet quite high, 

 as if stepping over some obstacle before it. It is not 

 easy to recognize in this seemingly absurd, affected bird 

 the ball of feathers that a month later will rise from 

 before your dog and speedily be out of range. 



In some parts of the country I have heard gunners 

 speak disparagingly of the sharp-tailed grouse, per- 

 haps for no better reason than that they fly more 

 swiftly and rise with more tumult than the pinnated 

 grouse; but I regard them as one of the finest of our 

 game birds. 



SAGE GROUSE SHOOTING 



The sage grouse, which has its home on the high, 

 dry plains, where grows the artemisia, harmonizes in 

 color with the gray soil and gray stems of the sage 

 brush to an extraordinary degree. When the sage 

 grows high, and, as is often the case in river bottoms, 

 is interrupted by frequent clumps of rye grass, one 

 may even walk into a brood of the birds without see- 

 ing them, and perhaps have them rise all about him; 

 or, on a sudden, his eye may catch a dozen heads, on 

 tall, straight necks, staring at him from every side. 

 The sage hen, it must be confessed, does not convey 

 to the observer the idea of a game bird. When tame 

 it is so gentle and unsuspicious, and when shy so 



