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Sage Grouse — Part 2
Images coming soon.
Like these birds, too, the sage cock goes through some amusing pre-nuptial performances early in spring. Inflating his large saffron colored air sacs until they rise above his head and all but conceal it, the spring feathers along the edges standing straight out, his pheasant-shaped tail spread like a great, pointed fan, the wings trailing beside him, his breast rubbing the ground until often the feathers are worn threadbare, he moves around the object of his affections with mincing, gingerly steps, while the air escaping from the sacs produces a guttural, purring sound that seems to voice his entire satisfaction with himself. Notwithstanding his protestations of devotion, he leaves his mate to scratch out a nest under some sage bush or in a grass tussock, and here she confines herself very closely--for she is a model mother--for three weeks or more. Knowing how perfectly her feathers conceal her from the sharpest eyes, she remains on the nest until sometimes almost stepped on, and shows the marvelously clever tricks of protecting her chicks common to all this highly intelligent clan. It is the coyote that is her deadliest enemy. When the brood is fully able to take care of itself, the neglectful father, that has passed the early summer with other cocks as selfishly indolent as he, for the first time becomes acquainted with his children.
PHEASANTS AND TURKEYS
(Family Phasianidoe)