CENTEOCEECUS UKOPHASIANUS, SAGE COCK. 403 



tance from water. The flesh of this bird is ratlier strong and bitter, 

 from the uature of its food, and it quickly decomposes after death." 



Dr. Buckley's account of the diet of these birds is, however, too ex- 

 clusive. They certainly eat various insects, especially grasshoppers, and 

 an indiscriminate variety of vegetable substances. ih\ Eidgway in- 

 forms me of an interesting fact : that the gizzard of the Sage Cock is a 

 slightly muscular membranous bag, quite different from the strong, 

 dense "grist-mill" of ordinary Gallina'. The point has been recorded in 

 the following terms : 



"A peculiarity of this species, which I have not seen noticed, is that 

 its stomach, instead of being hard and very muscular as in other Galli- 

 nacea, is soft and membraneous, like that of the birds of prey. This 

 was first told me by hunters in Nevada, and I afterward satisfied myself 

 of the truth of their statement that the Sage Hen "has ao gizzard," 

 by dissecting a sufficient number of individuals. This bird is never 

 known to eat grain, but subsists almost entirely upon green leaves of 

 artemisia and on grasshoppers." — {Am. Nat. viii, 1874.) 



The sanje feature is also noticed by a late writer in Fore:jt and Stream, 

 in the following article, which I reproduce, somewhat abbreviated : 



"A measurement of the picture gives length of bill and head 3 inches, 

 neck 7, body 14, and tail 10 inches ; total, 'Si inches. Its actual weight 

 in feather was seven pounds, and it was a fair specimen of a full-grown 

 male bird, the female being about two pounds less. The attitude is 

 characteristic, half crouching as it steals off when alarmed. The color 

 is also true to life, black and brown, mottled with white, except the 

 breast, where white predominates. You will perceive, also, that the legs 

 are slightly feathered. A remarkable feature of the bird is, that it has 

 no gizzard ; and in hundreds examined, no seeds, grain, or insects were 

 ever found iu the craw, or rather paunch, which is very large. This lack 

 of a gizzard indicates it to be a browser, and not a grain eater. Its food 

 is principally the artemisia or wild sage, though indications of the leaves 

 and buds of the grease-wood and various grasses were sometimes found. 

 1 have never met with it where the wild sage did not abound. 



"I notice that some of your correspondents state that it is scarcely 

 eatable on account of the bitter taste caused by the artemisia. Here is 

 the remedy : Immediately after killing, draw the bird, thoroughly re- 

 moving the intestines and their contents, but all other dressing can be 

 delayed till camp is reached. Treated in this manner it has uo disa- 

 greeable taste. This is what we should expect, when it is recollected 

 that iu all animals the peculiarities of food pass off by secretions 

 through the natural channels. The milk and butter of a cow feeding 

 upon wild garlic, cabbage, rag-weed, &c., will be tainted with their pe- 

 culiar qualities, but the flesh is not. So when the bird is dead the opera- 

 tions of the body cease, absorption commences, and the contents of the 

 intestines begin to affect the flesh. The power of life to resist absorp- 

 tion and decay are as wonderful as mysterious. A live fish in salt water 

 continues fresh. The rubbing of salt upon a live hog's back would 

 hardly cure the meat, but when slaughtered, it takes up the salt through 

 skin and flesh alike. But perhaps too much upon this familiar principle, 

 unless it serves to redeem this magnificent bird from its unluckj reputa- 

 tion. The flesh is quite dark and rather dry, but when the bird is about 

 two-thirds grown, with the bitter taste prevented in the manner I have 

 describetl, it is not easy for a hungry man to find fault with it, especially 

 in camp. I notice also that a correspondent says that it does not lie well 

 before a dog ; I have not found it so under favorable circumstances. 

 When there is reasonable cover, its conduct in that respect is better 



