. Our feathered game; a handbook of the North American game birds . litary, or I failed to move his com-panion. Shortly afterward a large animal bounded outof the sage and made off with tremendous leaps. Anantelope, thought I, as I made a snap shot at it, butwhen I picked it up the extremely long ears made itevident that I had bagged the jack, or jackass rabbit,the animal which had been recently exploited by MarkTwain in Roughing It. When I arrived at ourcamp my identification of both species was verified,but neither the cook nor the plainsmen who acted asour guides seemed to regard my perform
. Our feathered game; a handbook of the North American game birds . litary, or I failed to move his com-panion. Shortly afterward a large animal bounded outof the sage and made off with tremendous leaps. Anantelope, thought I, as I made a snap shot at it, butwhen I picked it up the extremely long ears made itevident that I had bagged the jack, or jackass rabbit,the animal which had been recently exploited by MarkTwain in Roughing It. When I arrived at ourcamp my identification of both species was verified,but neither the cook nor the plainsmen who acted asour guides seemed to regard my performance as he-roic as could be desired. I soon learned that in the presence of larger game,such as the elk and mule-deer, neither the sage-cocknor the jack-rabbit were regarded as worthy marks oras desirable food. There has been much controversy as to the meritsof the sage-cock on the table, and I had occasion toreview the authorities, as the lawyers say, on this pointin a former work. All shades of opinion will be therefound expressed, in terms varying from quinine. THE SAGE-COCK 85 brute to delicious, but the truth of the matter isthat these birds, like others, often receive a flavor fromtheir food, and when the wild sage is their exclusivediet they have a more or less bitter taste. When, how-ever, the birds are young and have been feeding ongrasshoppers, their flesh is as good as that of the sharp-tails or prairie-grouse. Before we made our second camp I shot a numberof these grouse, and selecting a young and tender bird,plucked him and broiled him on a stick, and I foundthe flesh, as Lieutenant-Colonel Dodge describes it— juicy, tender, and delicate as a spring-chicken, besideshaving the richest game flavor. I am surprised thatthe ornithologists are almost to a man arrayed againstthis bird as an edible dish. The sage-cock was made known to the world byLewis and Clark in their report of their expedition,and they named it the cock of the plains. It inhabitsthe sage plains from
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