The Sage- Grouse 211 



central ones like the back, remainder black, barred with light 

 buff for two-thirds their length; top of head and neck, buffy 

 gray, barred with black ; chin, white with black spots ; throat, 

 and cheeks, white ; a black line from mouth under the eye and 

 over ear ; a white line from the eye down the side of neck ; front 

 of neck, black, bordered with white; chest, gray, shafts of 

 feathers black and stiff; flanks, with broad bars of buffy white 

 and sooty brown; abdomen and rest of lower parts, black; 

 under tail-coverts, black, tipped with white ; bill, black. Total 

 length, about 28 inches ; wing, 13 ; tail, 13. Weight, 5 to 8 

 pounds. Loose yellow skin on sides of neck, which during 

 mating season is inflated into large sacs. The female has the 

 chin and throat pure white, otherwise marked like the male. 

 Length, about 22 inches ; wing, io£ ; tail, &\. So much smaller 

 is she than her mate that many sportsmen have mistaken her 

 for an immature specimen and even for a distinct race. The 

 downy young are grayish brown with darker marks above and 

 lighter below. Range, British Columbia and Assiniboia, south 

 to New Mexico, Utah, and Nevada. East, to the Dakotas, 

 Nebraska, and Colorado ; west, to California, Oregon, and 

 Washington. 



There is something about the sage-grouse which 

 is slightly suggestive of the bustard family, and 

 still more suggestive of that king of all grouse, 

 the capercailzie of the forests over sea. It is a 

 haunter of the sage plains, its principal food being 

 the leaves of the sage bush. In these desolate 

 regions, sun-parched in summer, and swept by icy 

 blasts and wolf-voiced blizzards during winter, the 

 big grouse finds a congenial home, for it is as 

 hardy as a bison. In many respects peculiar, it 

 affords a striking illustration of nature's marvel- 

 lous power to meet conditions which at first glance 

 would appear to be distinctly hostile. As the 



