Volume 6, Plate XVII / Ornithology (Birds)

Cock of the Plains

Centrocercus urophasianus

Centrocercus urophasianus, the largest American grouse, inhabits the uncovered plains of the Columbia and interior California, the male reaching thirty one and a half inches and the female twenty two, the plumage yellowish brown mottled and whitish below. The male bears naked breast protuberances, feather tufts, and stiff scale like neck feathers, and in display lowers his wings, spreads his fan tail, and inflates his throat with a grating song, the hen laying thirteen to seventeen blotched eggs.