_Tetrao urophasianus_, BONAP. Zool. Jour. III, Jan. 1828, 214.—IB.
Am. Orn. III, 1830, pl. xxi, f. 1.—IB. Mon. _Tetrao_, in Trans. Am.
Phil. Soc. N. S. III, 1830, 390.—DOUGLAS, Trans. Linn. Soc. XVI, 1829,
133.—NUTTALL, Man. I, 1832, 666.—AUD. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 503, pl.
ccclxxi.—IB. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 106, pl. ccxcvii.—NEWBERRY, Zoöl.
Cal. & Or. Route, Rep. P. R. R. Surv. VI, iv, 1857, 95.—MAX. Cab.
J. VI, 1858, 431.—WILSON, Illust. 1831, pl. xxvi, xxvii. _Tetrao
(Centrocercus) urophasianus_, SW. F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 358, pl.
lviii.—GRAY, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. III, 46, 1844.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am.
1858, 624.—COOP. & SUCKL. 222.—JARD. Game Birds, Nat. Lib. IV, 140,
pl. xvii.—ELLIOT, P. A. N. S, 1864.—IB. Monog. Tetraon. pl.—GRAY,
Cat. Brit. Mus. V, 1867, 87.—COOP. & SUCK. 222.—COOP. Orn. Cal. I,
1870, 536. _Centrocercus urophasianus_, JARDINE, Game Birds, Nat. Lib.
Birds, IV, 140, pl. xvii. _?? Tetrao phasianellus_, ORD, Guthrie’s
Geog. (2d Am. ed.) II, 1815, 317, based on Lewis & Clark, II, 181.
_Cock of the Plains_, LEWIS & CLARK, II, 180, sp. 2.
SP. CHAR. Tail-feathers twenty. Above varied with black, grayish-brown,
and brownish-yellow; coverts having all the feathers streaked with the
latter. Beneath black; the breast white; the upper feathers with spiny
shafts; the lower streaked with black; tail-coverts with white tips;
the sides also with much white. _Male._ Length, 33.00; wing, 13.00;
tail, 13.00. _Female._ Length, 21.50; wing, 10.75; tail, 7.50. _Chick._
Upper surface brownish-gray, lower grayish-white. Above irregularly and
coarsely marbled with black, the markings most conspicuous on the head.
Bill black.
HAB. _Artemisia_, or sage, plains of the Northwest.
HABITS. The Cock of the Plains appears to be confined to dry and sterile
regions, from the Black Hills to California and Oregon, and from British
Columbia nearly to Arizona, but only in those portions of the plains in
which the _Artemisia_, or sage, abounds. It was met with by Townsend
for the first time about fifty miles west of the Black Hills. He did
not find them in the valley of the Snake River, but saw them again at
Wallah-Wallah, on the banks of the Columbia, and near the mouth of the
Lewis River. He only found it on the plains that produce the wormwood,
on which plant it feeds, and in consequence of which the flesh becomes
so bitter that it is unfit for food. It was very unsuspicious and easily
approached, rarely flying unless hard pressed, and running ahead at the
distance of a few feet, clucking like the common Hen. When disturbed,
it would often run under the horse’s feet. According to his account it
rises very clumsily, but, when once started, flies with great rapidity
and also to a great distance. It is said to have the sailing motion of
the Pinnated Grouse. They are abundant in autumn on the branches of the
Columbia, at which time they are regarded as good food by the natives,
and are taken in great quantities in nets.
Mr. Nuttall met with this Grouse in considerable numbers on the north
branch of the Platte. They were always on the ground in small flocks
or pairs, by no means shy; but when too nearly approached, uttering a
rather loud but short guttural cackle, and rising with a strong whirring
sound. Their notes, at times, strongly resembled those of the common
Hen. He never met with them in any forest, nor have they been taken near
the coast of California.
[Illustration: =2561= ♂ ⅓ ⅓
_Centrocercus urophasianus._]
This species was first obtained by Lewis and Clark’s party in their
expedition to the Rocky Mountains. It was afterwards met with by
Douglas, who published in the Linnæan Transactions (XVI, p. 133) an
account of its habits. He described its flight as slow, unsteady, and
as affording but little amusement to the sportsman; being a succession
of flutterings, rather than anything else. They rise hurriedly, giving
two or three flaps of the wing, swinging from side to side in their
movement, and gradually falling, making a whirring sound, at the same
time uttering a cry of _cuck-cuck-cuck_, like the common Pheasant. They
pair in March and April.
At the mating-season the male is said to select some small eminence
on the banks of streams for the very singular performances it goes
through with at that period in the presence of its mate. The wings are
lowered and dragged on the ground, making a buzzing sound; the tail,
somewhat erect, is spread like a fan; the bare and yellow œsophagus
is inflated to a prodigious size, and said to become nearly half as
large as its body, while the silky flexile feathers on the neck are
erected. Assuming this grotesque form, the bird proceeds to display a
singular variety of attitudes, at the same time chanting a love-song
in a confused and grating, but not an offensively disagreeable tone,
represented as resembling _hurr-hurr-hurr-r-r-r-hoo_, ending in a deep
and hollow utterance.
[Illustration: _Centrocercus urophasianus._]
Their nests were found, by Douglas, on the ground, under the shade of
_Artemisia_, or when near streams, among _Phalaris arundinacea_, and
were carefully constructed of dry grass and slender twigs. The eggs are
said to be as many as from thirteen to seventeen in number, and the
period of incubation to be twenty-one or twenty-two days. The young
leave the nest soon after they are hatched.
In the winter these birds are said to be found in large flocks of
several hundreds, in the spring in pairs, and later in the summer and
fall in small family groups. They were abundant throughout the barren
amid plains of the Columbia and in Northern California, but were not met
with east of the Rocky Mountains.
Dr. Newberry regards this Grouse, when in full plumage, as rather a
handsome bird, and much better looking than any figure he has seen
of it. It is much the largest of American Grouse, weighing from five
to six pounds. The female is much smaller than the male, and is of a
uniform sober-brown color. The male bird has a distinctive character in
the spaces of bare orange-colored skin which occupy the sides of the
neck, and are usually concealed by the feathers, but may be inflated to
a great size. The species was not found in the valleys of California,
but belongs both to the fauna of the interior basin and to that of the
Rocky Mountains, the dry desert country lying on both flanks of this
chain. He first found it high up on Pit River, and once came suddenly
upon a male in an oasis near a warm spring, which started up with a
great flutter and rush, and, uttering a hoarse _hek-hek_, flew off with
an irregular but remarkably well-sustained flight, which was continued
until the bird was out of sight. In searching around he soon found its
mate, which rose from under a sage-bush with a noise like a whirlwind.
This specimen was secured, and these birds were afterwards found to be
quite abundant, but very strong-winged and difficult to kill. It was no
uncommon thing, Dr. Kennerly states, for him to pour a full charge of
shot into them at a short distance, dislodging a quantity of feathers,
and yet to have them fly off to so great a distance before they dropped
that he could not follow them. He found them only in the vicinity of
the sage-bushes, under which they were usually concealed. He afterwards
saw them very abundant on the shores of Wright and Rhett Lakes. In one
instance he observed a male bird to sink down on the ground, as the
train approached, depressing its head, and lying as motionless as a
stick, which it greatly resembled. As he moved towards it, the bird
lowered its head until it rested on the ground, and made itself as
small as possible, and did not rise until he had arrived within fifteen
feet of it. West of the Cascade Range it did not occur, and all its
preferences and habits seemed to fit it for the occupancy of the sterile
region of the central desert. Its flesh is dark and highly flavored with
the wormwood. The young, if parboiled and stewed, are said to be quite
good; but, on the whole, this Grouse is inferior for the table to any
other American species.
Dr. Cooper gives this bird as common in Washington Territory, on the
high barren hills and deserts east of the Cascade Mountains, and limited
in its range by the growth of the _Artemisia tridentata_, the leaves of
which shrub seem to be the principal part of its food; the flesh tasting
so strongly of it as to be unpalatable. He saw none north of the Spokane
Plains, the country being apparently too woody. On those plains they
were very common. He describes its flight as more heavy and less noisy
than that of most Grouse, and when they are started, it commonly extends
a long distance before alighting.
Dr. Suckley found the Sage-Cock abundant on the plains of Oregon, near
Snake River, on both sides of the Blue Mountains, as also along the line
of the Columbia, on the open plains, and on the sage barrens of the
Yakima and Simcoe Valleys,—in fact, wherever the artemisia was found.
The leaves of this shrub either are preferred or are necessary to its
existence, for no other food was found in their full stomachs, even in
localities where abundance of grass-seed, wild grain, grasshoppers, and
other kinds of food, might be found. This species has apparently the
power of going a long while without water. Lieutenant Fleming informed
Dr. Suckley that he found them about twelve miles west of Fort Laramie,
but they were not seen east of that point so far south. In August, 1853,
one was procured about two hundred miles east of the Rocky Mountains. He
also observed a small flock on the plains bordering on Milk River, in
Nebraska. Near Soda Lake, the sink of the Mohave River, Dr. Cooper met
with it, which is without doubt the most southern point at which it has
been discovered. Dr. Coues has never met with it in Arizona.
Mr. Ridgway encountered it everywhere in the Great Basin where there
was a thrifty growth of the artemisia, which appears everywhere to
regulate its existence. He corroborates the accounts given of its
heavy, lumbering flight; and when it has once escaped, it flies so
far that the sportsman rarely has a second opportunity to flush it.
It rises apparently with great effort. He was told by the settlers of
Nevada and Utah that the Sage-Hen was never known to touch grain of
any kind, even when found in the vicinity of grain-fields. This is
attributed to a very curious anatomical peculiarity of the species,—the
entire absence of a gizzard; having instead a soft membranous stomach,
rendering it impossible to digest any hard food. In a large number of
specimens dissected, nothing was found but grasshoppers and leaves of
the artemisia.
Two eggs in my cabinet, from Utah, measure, one 2.20 by 1.50 inches, and
the other 2.15 by 1.45. They are of an elongate-oval shape, slightly
pointed at one end. Their ground-color varies from a light-greenish drab
to a drab shaded with buff. They are thickly freckled with small rounded
spots of reddish-brown and dark chestnut.