178 NB8T8 AND EOOB OF 



to be conventionally established along the northern border of the United States, be- 

 yond which it shades into true phasianellus. In fine, this is the prairie chicken of the 

 whole Northwest; usually occuring where C. cupido does not, the two overlap to 

 some extent.* In some portions of Manitoba it Is said to be very abundant, living 

 exclusively on the open prairie in summer, and exclusively in the wooded districts in 

 , winter. The nest is placed on the ground, composed of a few dry grasses arranged 

 in a circular form. The bird is esteemed as highly for the table as the Prairie Hen. 

 The eggs are light clay to a dark rusty-brown, uniformly speckled with fine dottings 

 of darker brown; from six to twelve in number; average size 1.70x1.25. 



3086. PRAIRIE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. Pediocates phasianellus cam- 

 pestris Ridgw. Geog. Dist. — Plains and prairies of the United States east of the 

 Rocky Mountains^ south to eastern New Mexico. 



Another variety of the Sharp-tailed Grouse, inhabiting the great plains of the 

 United States east to Wisconsin and Northern Illinois, west to Eastern Colorado 

 and south to Eastern New Mexico. The ground color of the plumage in this bird is 

 more rusty, or ochraceous, than in P. p. columbianus, that of the latter si)ecies being 

 buffy-grayish or pale grayish-clay color above, with little or no rusfy tinge. 



Ridgway gives the average measurements of the eggs as 1.66x1.23. 



309. SAGE GROUSE. Centrocercus urophasianus (Bonap.) Geog. Dist. — Sage- 

 bush plains of the Rocky Mountain plateau, north into British America, south to 

 New Mexico, Nevada, Eastern California and Washington Territory. 



The Sage Cock, Sage Grouse, Sage Hen, or Cock of the Plains, as it is variously 

 called in the West, is principally found in what are known as the sage-bush regions 

 of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Eastern 

 California and other Western States and Territories, where the march of civilization 

 has not exterminated their favorite food, the leaves of the wild sage-bush, which 

 cover large tracts of Western country. This is the natural home of the bird. It is 

 the largest of American grouse.. The color of the bird is so nearly like that of the 

 ground and sage-bush that it is difficult to detect its presence. In summer their food 

 is sage leaves, berries and insects, but their sole food in winter seems to be sage 

 leaves. The male is a little larger than the female; their weight is about ten pounds, 

 "and that of the female seven, live weight. They roam everywhere in winter in 

 large flocks, the snow quenching their thirst instead of the water of the streams 

 which supply them in the summer, and along which they scatter in small bands at 

 this season. The m^ales flock together during the season of incubation; the females 

 always remaining by themselves to rear their young. Mr. G. G. Mead states that the 

 eggs in Wyoming are deposited about the 15th of May. W. S. Rougis reports them in 

 the same Territory as being laid as early as the latter part of April or in May, and 

 that the nests are mere hollows scratched in the ground under sage-bushes. Mr. 

 Rougis found the nest complement to vary from ten to fourteen eggs, and varying 

 in shape from oval to that of the usual shape of hen's eggs, and some specimens 

 taper to a smaller point at the smaller end than do those of the domestic fowl. They 

 are of a light greenish-drab or pale olive-buff or a drab shaded with buff, thickly 

 freckled with small rounded spots of reddish-brown and dark chestnut, occasionally 

 with large' blotches and spots. The average size of one hundred and nine speci- 

 mens in the National Museum is 2.17x1.50. ■ Mr. Rougis gives the measurements of 

 six specimens as follows: 1.75x1.33, 1.63x1.17, 1.69x1.18, 1.63x1.17, 2.25x1.51, 2.23x 



• Key to North American Birds, pp. 582-683. 



