214 OUR NATIONAL PARKS 



Hawks and eagles sail overhead, grouse walk in 

 happy flocks below, and song sparrows sing in 

 every bed of chaparral. There is no crowding, 

 to be sure. Unlike the low Eastern trees, those 

 of the Sierra in the main forest belt average nearly 

 two hundred feet in height, and of course many 

 birds are required to make much show in them, 

 and many voices to fill them. Nevertheless, the 

 whole range, from foothills to snowy summits, is 

 shaken into song every summer ; and though low 

 and thin in winter, the music never ceases. 



The sage cock {Centrocercus urophasianus) 

 is the largest of the Sierra game-birds and the 

 king of American grouse. It is an admirably 

 strong, hardy, handsome, independent bird, able 

 with comfort to bid defiance to heat, cold, 

 drought, hunger, and all sorts of storms, living 

 on whatever seeds or insects chance to come in 

 its way, or simply on the leaves of sage-brush, 

 everywhere abundant on its desert range. In 

 winter, when the temperature is oftentimes below 

 zero, and heavy snowstorms are blowing, he sits 

 beneath a sage bush and allows himself to be 

 covered, poking his head now and then through 

 the snow to feed on the leaves of his shelter. 

 Not even the Arctic ptarmigan is hardier in brav- 

 ing frost and snow and wintry darkness. When 

 in full plumage he is a beautiful bird, with a 

 long, firm, sharp-pointed tail, which in walking 

 is slightly raised and swings sidewise back and 



