248 
ORDERS OF BIRDS— UPLAND GAME-BIRDS 
near the foot-hills of the Rocky and Big Horn 
Mountains. When flushed, it makes the mis- 
take of its life in alighting in the low, isolated 
cottonwood-trees that straggle along the creeks, 
for when thus perched it takes a strong man to 
resist the temptation to cut off its head with a 
rifle ball, — or try to do so. This bird will fly 
out of the most impregnable cover, and perch 
aloft to be shot at in a manner indicating a 
total absence of the most ordinary instinct of 
self-preservation. 
The Sage - Grouse, or “ Cock - of - the- 
Plains ,” 1 is a superb bird — big, handsome 
and showy. It is one of the very few creatures 
which can eat with pleasure and benefit the 
leaves of the common sage-brush, and subsist 
upon that food indefinitely. Naturally, how- 
ever, this diet often imparts to the flesh of the 
bird an excess of sage flavor which renders it 
quite unpalatable. On this fact alone, the Sage- 
Grouse can base a hope of a better fate than that 
of its more edible relatives in the Grouse Family. 
Of the really conspicuous members of the 
Plains fauna, — buffalo, antelope, elk, coyote, 
gray wolf, swift fox, jack “rabbit,” prairie- 
“dog,” and Sage-Grouse, — all have vanished 
from frequent sight, save the last two, and 
some have wholly disappeared. In riding in 
October, 1901, from Miles City to the Missouri 
River and back, about 250 miles all told, we 
saw only three coyotes, one gray wolf, and four 
prairie-hares. Cotton-tail rabbits abounded in 
the bad-lands, and we saw about six flocks of 
Sage-Grouse— a very small number for so much 
territory. 
One of those flocks, however, was a sight to 
be remembered. In the valley of the Little 
Dry, it spread out, in open order, on a level 
flat that was covered with short, gray buffalo- 
grass, and dotted here and there with low clumps 
of sage-brush. Halting the outfit wagon, I 
slowly rode forward until within thirty feet of 
the vanguard of the flock. There were in all 
forty-six birds, and all were on dress parade. 
They stood proudly erect, headed across the 
trail, marched forward in a slow and stately 
manner, and every weather eye was kept on me. 
The majority were big, long-tailed cocks. 
At last the parade terminated in the flight of 
1 Cen-tro-cer'cus u-ro-phas-i-an'us. Length of 
male, 27 inches ; female, 22 inches. 
the birds nearest me, gradually followed by all 
the others. 
In size, the Sage-Grouse is the largest member 
of the Grouse Family in America, — next in 
fact to the magnificent black cock of Europe. 
When a whole flock suddenly rises out of the 
sage-brush and takes wing, it is an event to 
remember. The rush and beat of wings makes a 
startling noise, and the size of the bird is also 
highly impressive. This grouse is so large that, 
as it flies away, you see its body rock violently 
from side to side, and note the effort of the wings 
to carry the bird, and maintain a true balance. 
The male has an air-sac on each side of its 
neck, which it inflates in the courting season, 
when it struts to attract the attention of the 
females. Recently Mr. Frank Bond has ob- 
served, and reported in The Auk, that the 
male also rubs its breast along the ground, as a 
part of its strutting performance, which accounts 
for the mysteriously worn condition of the 
breast-feathers. 
It is no more necessary to describe a Sage- 
Grouse than an elephant. Its size, and its ex- 
tremely long and pointed tail proclaim its 
identity anywhere. According to Mrs. Bailey, 
it ranges “from Assiniboia and British Columbia 
to Utah, Nevada and California, from the 
Sierra Nevadas and Cascades east to the Black 
Hills, Nebraska and Colorado.” I will only 
add the earnest wish that every one who reads 
these notes may some day have the pleasure 
of seeing at close range this glorious bird in its 
ideal home, — on a sage-brush flat in the land of 
buttes, where the world is big and free, and full 
of sunshine. 
The Ptarmigans (pronounced tar'mi-gans) 
form a sharply distinguished group of the 
Grouse Family, with which, in view of the dif- 
ferent species we possess in Alaska, and also 
nearer home, every American should become 
acquainted. The most striking and peculiar 
character about these birds is that at the ap- 
proach of winter they turn snow-white. They 
prefer to nest on the tops of rugged mountains, 
above timber-line, and in Alaska are at home 
either on the lofty snow-fields of the mountains, 
or the desolate barrens. 
There are four well-defined species, and six 
varieties. The only species which is at home 
in the United States is the White-Tailed 
