but it cannot secure the grains beneath the snow during the 

 long Winters, and it perishes because the wild roses and other 

 Winter foods have been destroyed. A handsome border to a 

 private road, fence or path, containing wild roses and sun- 

 flowers and prairie grasses, could be made to yield a good crop 

 of grouse, many of which might be shot on the stubbles in the 

 Autumn without any danger of extermination. Some stock 

 birds should be left, of course, and the prairie falcon, the 

 coyote, the snake, and other enemies should not be permitted 

 to devour them. 



THE sage cock, or cock of the plains, is the second largest 

 grouse in the world, the capercailzie of the old world being 

 somewhat bigger. Our sage cock is peculiar in its habits and 

 it is found in the regions where the artemesia or wild sage 

 grows, extensively. I have shot many of these grouse from the 

 saddle when riding across the wide plains covered as far as the 

 eye can reach with the gray green plants of wild sage. 



The food of the sage grouse consists largely of the leaves of 

 the wild sage which late in the year impart a bitter flavor to 

 the meat, and which caused a Western traveller to denounce 

 it as a "quinine brute." Early in the year the young birds 

 live largely on grasshoppers and other insects, and I have 

 eaten them in August when they were delicious. The flesh 

 at this season is tender and juicy and compares favorably with 

 that of the other grouse. 



Since the natural foods for these birds still are plentiful 

 on the vast alkaline plains, it would appear that "too much 

 shooting" must be ascribed as the reason for their threatened 

 extinction. The well known rule that no game birds can stand 

 both the destruction due to natural causes and shooting also, 

 is proved everywhere and it explains, undoubtedly, our loss of 

 the cock of the plains. 



These big grouse are well worth preserving, the lands where 

 they dwell are practically worthless and a good big sage-cock 

 ranch or preserve would cost almost nothing and there is room 



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