432 NORTH AMKUICAX BIRDS. 



How ofl" with an irrejfiilar hut roiiiarkahly woU-sustniiied flight, whicli was 

 continued until the hinl was out of sight. In searching around he scjon 

 found its mate, which rose from under a sagc-l»ush with a noise like a whirl- 

 wind. Tiiis specimen was secured, and tiiese birds were afterwards found to 

 he (juite altundaut, hut very strong-winged and ditlicult to kill. It was no 

 uncommon tiling, Dr. Kenuerly states, for him to pour a full charge of shot 

 into them at a short di.stance, dishnlgiiig a (piantity of feathers, and yet to 

 have them ily off to so great a distance before they dropped that he could not 

 follow them. He found them only in the vicinity of the sage-bushes, under 

 which they were usually concealed. He afterwards saw them very abun- 

 dant on the siiores of VV^rightand lUiett J^akes. In one instance he observed 

 a male bird to sink down on tlie ground, as the train approached, depressing 

 its head, and lying as motionless as a stick, wliicli it greatly resembled. As 

 ho moved towards it, the bird lowered its head until it rested on tlio ground, 

 and made itself as small as possible, and did not rise until he had arrived 

 within fifteen feet of it. West of the Cascade Hange it did not occur, 

 and all its preferences and habits seemed to fit it for the occupancy of the 

 sterile region of the central desert. Its ilesh is dark and highly iiavored 

 with the wormwood. The young, if parlioiled and stewed, are said to be 

 quite good ; but, on the whole, tjiis Grouse is inferior for the table to any 

 other American species. 



Dr. Cooper gives this Itird as common in Washington Territory, on the 

 higli barren hills and deserts east of the Cascade Mountains, and limited in 

 its range by the growth of the Artcmida tridentatu, the leaves of which 

 shrub seem to be tlie principal part of its food ; the Hesh tasting so strongly 

 of it as to 1)0 unpalatable. He saw none north of the Spokane I'lains, the 

 country being apparently too woody. On those plains they were very com- 

 mon. He describes its flight as more heavy and less noisy than that of 

 most Grouse, and when they are started, it commonly extends a long dis- 

 tance before alighting. 



Dr. Suckley found the Sage-Cock abundant on the plains of Oregon, near 

 Snake liiver, on both sides of the Blue Mountains, as also along the line of 

 the Columbia, on the open plains, and on the sage barrens of the Yakinm 

 and Simcoe Valleys, — in fact, where er the artemisia was found. The leaves 

 of this shrub either are preferred or are necessary to its existence, for no 

 other food was found in their full stomachs, even in localities where abun- 

 dance of grass-seed, wild grain, gi-asshoppers, and other kinds of food, might 

 be found. This species has apparently the power of going a long while 

 without water. Lieutenant Fleming informed Dr. Suckley that he found 

 them about twelve miles west of Fort Larsimie, but they were not seen 

 east of that point so far south. In August, 1853, one was procured about 

 two hundred miles east of the Rocky Mountains. He also observed a small 

 flock on the plains bordering on ]\Iilk River, in Nebraska. Near Soda Liike, 

 the sink of the Mohave River, Dr. Cooper met with it, which is without 



