SAGE-HEN 565 



specimens from California and Nevada). Males weigh as much as seven pounds 

 (3.17 kilograms) ; females up to five pounds (2.26 kilograms) (Coues, 1874, 

 p. 403). Ju-venMe -plumage: Like that of adult female, but buffy and brown tones 

 prevalent on upper surface and breast; black feathers of belly narrowly tipped 

 with white; lower tail coverts largely whitish. Natal plumage: Upper surface 

 mixed buffy white and pale rusty brown, boldly mottled with black; bill black; 

 under surface dull white, marked with pale rusty brown on throat and chest. 



Marks for field identification — Very large size (larger than any other 

 of our grouse), long tail of slender, pointed feathers, and solidly black belly. 

 The cackle and the loud whir of the wings are characteristic. 



Voice — A rapidly repeated scolding cluck: tuTc-a-tuh; a slowly repeated deep 

 guttural Mfc, Tciik, kuk, uttered as a bird flushes from the ground. Males have a 

 mechanical ' ' drumming ' ' in the spring. 



Nest — A mere shallow depression under a sheltering shrub and usually not 

 far from a spring or stream; sometimes lined with grasses and tvyigs. 



Eggs- — 7 to 9 (rarely up to 17), in shape rather elongate ovate, measuring in 

 inches, 2.04 to 2.35 by 1.41 to 1.60 (in millimeters, 52.7 to 59.7 by 35.8 to 40.6), 

 and averaging 2.15 by 1.50 (54.6 by 38.1) ; ground-color grayish or greenish drab, 

 thickly spotted and dotted with reddish brown (Coues, 1874, p. 406; and authors). 



GenbraIj distribution — Resident on the sage-brush plains from interior south- 

 ern British Columbia, southern Saskatchewan, and northwestern North Dakota 

 south to middle eastern California, northwestern New Mexico, and northwestern 

 Nebraska (A. O. TJ. Check-list, 1910, p. 145). 



Distribution in California — Fairly common resident in the sage-brush coun- 

 try of eastern California from vicinity of Lower Klamath Lake, northeastern 

 Siskiyou County (H. C. Bryant, MS), and northern Modoc County (Newberry, 

 1857, p. 95), south along the east base of the Sierra Nevada through Lassen 

 County (C. H. Townsend, 1887, p. 200), Sierra and Alpine counties (Belding, 

 1890, p. 19), to head of Owens Eiver and White Mountains, in Mono County 

 (A. K. Pisher, 1893a, p. 31), and northern Inyo County (E. H. Ober, MS). 



Next to the wild turkey, the Sage-hen, or Sage Grouse as it is 

 often called, is the largest of the upland game birds found in the 

 United States. Full-grown males are said frequently to attain a 

 weight of eight pounds and females a weight of five pounds. The 

 species is not widely distributed in North America, it being a resi- 

 dent only of the arid, sage-covered plains of the west, more par- 

 ticularly of the Great Basin. The range of this bird reaches its east- 

 ern limit in western North Dakota and Nebraska, and northwestern 

 New Mexico, its western limit in eastern Washington and middle 

 eastern California, and its northern limit in southern British 

 Columbia east of the Cascades, and southern Saskatchewan. Within 

 this range the species is to be found only in and near localities where 

 the prevalent' vegetation is the true sage-brush {Artemisia triden- 

 iata). Thus the bird's name. Sage-hen, has been most aptly chosen. 



Within the State of California the Sage-hen also has a distribu- 

 tion nearly coextensive with the arid sage-covered plateau lying east- 

 of the Sierra Nevada. The species is, according to reports of local 

 observers, probably most abundant in northeastern Siskiyou County 



