(Centrocercus urophasianus)
The sage grouse, or sage hen is the largest of the grouse of America,
some of the males weighing as much as seven pounds. Its range, so far
as the geographical scope of this work is concerned, is northeastern
California, Nevada, and eastern Oregon and Washington, but it extends
much farther east. It is only found in the sage brush districts of the
high altitudes. They usually remain in single broods, though they are
sometimes found in much larger flocks. They often travel for
considerable distances, "following the leader" in single file. They
strut in the nesting season, but in a peculiar way, pushing their
breasts on the ground until the feathers are worn off and even the
skin abraded.
A peculiarity of the sage grouse is that it has no gizzard, but
instead it has a stomach more like that of an animal. The young birds
lie quite well to a dog and furnish very good sport, and until they
are about half grown the flesh is quite good, but the older birds are
very unsavory and in fact almost unpalatable. This is caused by their
feeding almost entirely upon the leaves of the sage.
=Color=--Male--Upper parts, gray, barred with brown; tail, very long,
the longer feathers being quite narrow and stiff and barred also with
brown; a dark line over the eye and a light one from the eye down the
side of the neck; throat and cheeks, nearly white, mottled with black;
a few long hairy like feathers grow from the side of the neck of the
male birds.
Female--The female is colored and marked like the male but
considerably darker, is much smaller, with shorter tail and without
the hairy feathers on the side of the neck.
=Nest and Eggs=--The nest is nothing more than a hollow in the midst
of some bunch of brush, possibly lined with a few leaves. The eggs are
from twelve to eighteen in number and of a greenish shade, mottled
with bright brown, but these spots are easily rubbed off.
=Measurements=--Male--Total length from 24 to 28 inches; wing,
12 to 14. Weight, from four to seven pounds.
Female--Total length, from 20 to 22 inches; wing, 10 to 12. Weight,
from three to five pounds.
[Illustration: SHARP-TAIL GROUSE
(Pediocaetes phasianellus columbianus)]