402 CENTEOCERCUS TTEOPHASIAlfUS, SAGE COCK. 



Americau Ornitbology. a specimen in the Leadbeater collection. The 

 Prince supposed this to be a female, and, comparing it with the same 

 sex of the European Cock of the Woods {Tetrao urogallus), proclaimed 

 it to be as large as the latter, which, however, is not the case. Judging 

 from the assigned dimensions of 28 to 30 inches in length, his bird was 

 a cock, although he does not notice the tympanum or modified scaly 

 feathers of the neck, these, perhaps, not being evident in his immature 

 specimen. In 1831 Swainson framed for the species the subgenus Cen- 

 trocercus, and gave a characteristic figure. The bird being abundant, 

 and of very marked features, it soon became generally well known, and 

 is noticed by nearly all writers who have visited the regions it inhabits. 



Not the least interesting fact in the natural history of the Sage Cock 

 is its strict confinement to a region of peculiar character. Its dispersion 

 over our western interior seems to be co-extensive with the treeless, 

 arid, and almost desert regions where grow the various species of Arte- 

 misia or wild sage, upon which it chiefly feeds, and from which it derives 

 its name. The largest by far of the gallinaceous birds of this country, 

 excepting the Turkey alone, and one offering attractions to the sports- 

 man, it is, nevertheless, of the least consequence of all from an econo- 

 mic point of view, since the nature of its harsh and bitter food renders 

 its flesh little acceptable — indeed unpalatable under ordinary circum- 

 stances. 



As far up the Missouri as I have been (to the vicinity of Fort Steven- 

 son, l.jO miles below the mouth of the Yellowstone), I have failed to 

 note any indication of the bird's presence; while it certainly does not 

 occur to the northward anywhere east of longitude 103°. It is stated 

 to be common on the plains of Western Kansas and Nebraska, as it 

 doubtless is also in southwestern portions of Dakota, and thence west- 

 ward, iu suitable districts, to California and Oregon, east of the Sierra 

 Nevada and Cascade Ranges. As above indicated, the point of ascer- 

 tained southernmost range is the Mojave Eiver, a specimen killed there 

 having been seen by Ur. Cooper, who also found what he considered to 

 be addditional evidence of its occurrence. I do not know the line of 

 northward extension, and it is, apparently, not yet ascertained ; it will 

 probably be found to run, at some points at least, near the present 

 boundary of the United States, along tbe 49th parallel. Sir John Eich- 

 ardson gives nothing to the point on this score ; and the only indications 

 I have met with are those given by Drs. Cooper and Suckley. The for- 

 mer mentions the Spokane plains, in Washington Territory, as a locality 

 north of which none were seen, "the country being, apparently, too 

 woody for them. On those plains they were common, for though level, 

 the surface is dry, sterile, and elevated near 1,000 feet above the sea." 

 Dr. Suckley writes that they are found "on the sage barren;.; of the Ya- 

 kima and Simeoe Valleys, in Washington Territory, about latitude il3° 

 and 47° north." He also speaks of shooting it on the Jlilk liiver, Mon- 

 tana, about 200 miles west of Fort Union, the most northeastern point 

 at present on record to my knowledge. The same gentleman refers to 

 their food in the following terms : 



"I have dissected these Grouse in situations where there was abun- 

 dance of grass seeds, wild grain, grasshoppers, and other kinds of food 

 that a person would imagine would be readily eaten by tbem, yet I have 

 failed to obtain a single particle of any other food in their full stomachs 

 than tbe leaves of the artemisia. This food must be either highly pre- 

 ferred, or else be essential to their existence. They seem to have the 

 faculty of doing for a long time without water, as I have found them 

 habitually in dry desert situations, during severe droughts, a long dis- 



