SAGE GROUSE. 23 



leading all other birds in this respect. A half pint of the showy, 

 bluish blossoms of the pasque flower {Pulsatilla hirsutissima) which 

 brightens the western prairie are often taken at a meal, and those of 

 the dandelion also are eaten. Inflorescence of grasses, alder, willow, 

 maple, and canoe birch are plucked along with leaf buds. 



Like the prairie hen and the ruffed grouse, the sharp-tailed grouse 

 is frugivorous, and fruit forms 27.68 percent of its diet. Hips of 

 wild rose alone form 17.38 percent. Ernest Thompson Seton, who 

 examined hundreds of stomachs of the sharp-tailed grouse, says that 

 he can not recollect an instance in which they did not contain the 

 stony seeds of the wild rose {Rosa Manda [?])•" The Biological Sur- 

 xej has found rose seeds in many of the stomachs examined, but in 

 numerous instances it has recorded their absence. The fruit of both 

 prairie rose and the sweetbrier {Rosa ruhiginosa) are eaten. ]Mr. 

 Seton states that in places in Manitoba where he has collected dur- 

 ing the winter, gravel to pulverize the food is not to be had, and the 

 stony rose seeds act in its stead. Rose hips appear difficult to digest, and, 

 furthermore, are sometimes thickly set with bristles that would irri- 

 tate the human stomach, but appear to cause no inconvenience to the 

 grouse. The persistent bright-colored hips are readily seen above the 

 snow, and they are a boon to the birds in wintry northern regions, 

 where the struggle for existence is bitter. Other plants of the rose 

 family furnish food for the sharp-tailed grouse, such as the thorn 

 apple {Cratcegus sp.), the wild strawberry, and the wild black cherry 

 {Prunus serotina). It feeds on blueberries and cranberries and on the 

 snowberry {Symphoricarpus i^acemosus), various species of manza- 

 nita, bearberry {Arctostaphylos vva-ursi), buffalo berry (Lepargyrea 

 argentea), juniper berries, huckleberries, and arbutus berries. It 

 takes also the partridge berry {Mitchella repens), a favorite with the 

 ruffed grouse. Like many other species, it eats with relish the fruit 

 of cornel {Cornxs stolonifera) and poison ivy (both Rhus radicans 

 and Rhus diversiloha) . 



THE SAGE GBOTJSE. 



( Centrocercus urophasian i,i». ) 



With the exception of the wild turkey, the sage grouse is our largest 

 game fowl. It is a fine-Jooking bird, with gray back, black breast, 

 and long tail, and attains a maximum weight of 8 pounds. It breeds 

 on the sagebrush plains of the Upper Sonoran and Transition zones, 

 from the east slppe of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains in 

 Nevada, California, and British Columbia, east to Assiniboia, Dakota, 

 Nebraska, and Colorado. At mating time the cock inflates the sacs 



aProc. U. S. Nat. Mus. XIII, p. 519, 1890 (1891). 



