Genus CENTROCERCUS, Swainson.
Centrocercus, Swainson, F. B. A. II, 1831, 496. (Type, Tetrao urophasianus, Bon.)
Gen. Char. Tail excessively lengthened (longer than the wings), cuneate, the feathers all lanceolate and attenuate. Lower throat and sides of the neck with stiffened, apparently abraded, spinous feathers. Nasal fossæ extending very far forward, or along about two thirds of the culmen. Color mottled yellowish-grayish and dusky above; beneath whitish with black abdominal patch. Stomach not muscular, but soft, as in the Raptorial birds!
Centrocercus urophasianus, (Bon.) Sw.
SAGE-COCK; COCK OF THE PLAINS.
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.