The Sage Grouse 
363 
is unable to produce the musical booming sound of the Prairie Chicken, 
the forcible expulsion of the air from the sacks producing an incon- 
sequential chuckling noise only ; nevertheless the bird offers reasonable 
entertainment to any individual who will rise early and stroll out into 
the sagebrush a hundred yards from the camp-fire. 
“During the months of April and May the Sage Cocks are usually 
found in small flocks of a half dozen or more, stalking about with tails 
erect and spread after the manner of the strutting Turkey-cock, but I 
have never seen the Grouse dragging their wings upon the ground, 
Turkey fashion, and in the manner described by ‘ B t F t 
Dr. Newberrv in the quotation from this author ^ . 
found on page 406 ot Dr. Cones s Birds of 
the Northwest nor have I ever found a wing of a Sage Cock, in this 
or anv other season, which exhibited the slightest wearing away of the 
primaries. 
“Instead of dragging its wings upon the ground the excited Sage 
Cock will enormously inflate the air-sacs of the neck until the whole 
neck and breast is balloon-like in appearance, then, stooping forward, 
almost the entire weight of the body is thrown upon the distended 
portion and the bird slides along on the bare ground or short grass 
for some distance, the performance being concluded by the expulsion of 
the air from the sacks with a variety of chuckling, cackling or rumbling 
sounds. The performance is continued probably daily, during the pairing 
and nesting season, and of course the feathers are worn away by the 
constant friction.” 
Mr. E. S. Cameron, who has studied the habits of the Sage Grouse 
in Montana, makes further comments on the peculiar antics of these 
birds when in spring the mating instinct becomes strongly developed. 
In part he says : 
“During the first half of April the males repair to a regular ‘play- 
ground,’ but it is a difficult matter to observe their love-antics on account 
of the encompassing sage. However, on April 7, 1896, my wife and 
I happened to ride close upon a number of old cocks, near our ranch, 
which were engaged with their play in a small open space. They never 
fought nor threatened each other, but strutted or paraded before some 
hens concealed in the sage-bushes, and were entirely occupied with a 
most grotesque rivalry. By ruffling up all their 
feathers, spreading their tails, and dragging their 
wings along the ground, they looked much 
larger than they really were, while they produced a rattling sound with 
their quills after the manner of Turkey-cocks and Peafowl. At the same 
time they continuously uttered a kind of whistling challenge, and, distend- 
ing their necks by means of their air-sacs, erected an enormous white 
ruff. As the playground was small the eight or nine cocks upon it were 
in imminent danger of a collision, but for the ten minutes that we watched 
them this did not take place, nor were there any moments of ecstatic 
Nuptial 
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