SHOOTING THE PRAIRIE GROUSE 417 
clumsy and lumbering in its efforts to escape, that one 
hardly gives it credit for game qualities. It is a splen- 
did bird, however, and its great size makes it a trophy 
of the shotgun eagerly to be sought after. 
The range of the sage grouse is commonly believed 
to be coterminous with that of the plant whose name 
it bears. Though often seen in localities where no 
sage is actually visible, it never, we think, occurs far 
from the region where fhe plant is found. It is at home 
alike where the stunted shrubs of the wormwood grow 
only two or three inches high, or in valleys of the great 
central plateau where they are real trees, as high as 
one’s head. In cover such as this the traveler may 
often ride up on a great flock of the birds, which are 
usually so unsuspicious that they will stand for some 
time before taking alarm. 
When the birds do rise they get up heavily, with a 
lumbering flight; but after they have acquired momen- 
tum they go much faster than one would suppose, and 
it is easy to shoot behind crossing birds, whose great 
size often tends to make the shooter careless. 
Inhabiting, as it does, a region of extreme aridity, 
and because the shooting season comes at the dryest 
period of the year, dogs would be at a great disad- 
vantage in the pursuit of this bird, and I personally 
have never seen them used in this shooting. The bird 
is large, it inhabits the open, and is readily seen at 
some little distance. Though often unsuspicious, yet 
as the season advances, or in places where they have 
been shot, or much disturbed, they will often rise at 
