Lewis: March 2, 1806
At Fort Clatsop, the convalescing sick are recovering slowly on a poor diet of lean elk meat. Late in the evening, Drouillard arrives with a welcome supply of fat sturgeon, fresh anchovies, and about a bushel of wapato roots, and the party feasts on anchovies and wapato. Lewis devotes most of the entry to a detailed natural history description of the Cock of the Plains (sage grouse), noting its size, plumage, tail, wings, feet, diet of pulpy-leafed thorn, cackling call, range along the Columbia plains, and mediocre flavor.
Sunday March 2cd The diet of the sick is so inferior that they recover
their strength but slowly. none of them are now sick but all in a state of
convalessence with keen appetites and nothing to eat except lean Elk meat.
late this evening Drewyer arrived with a most acceptable supply of fat
Sturgeon, fresh Anchovies and a bag containing about a bushel of Wappetoe.
we feasted on Anchovies and Wappetoe.
The Cock of the Plains is found in the plains of Columbia and are in Great
abundance from the entrance of the S. E. fork of the Columbia to that of
Clark’s river. this bird is about 2/3rds the size of a turkey. the beak is
large short curved and convex. the upper exceeding the lower chap. the
nostrils are large and the beak black. the colour is an uniform mixture of
dark brown reather bordeing on a dove colour, redish and yellowish brown
with some small black specks. in this mixture the dark brown prevails and
has a slight cast of the dove colour at a little distance. the wider side
of the large feathers of the wings are of a dark brown only. the tail is
composed of 19 feathers of which that in the center is the longest, and
the remaining 9 on each side deminish by pairs as they receede from the
center; that is any one feather is equal in length to one equa distant
from the center of the tail on the oposite side. the tail when foalded
comes to a very sharp point and appears long in proportion to the body. in
the act of flying the tail resembles that of a wild pigeon. tho the motion
of the wings is much that of the pheasant and Grouse. they have four toes
on each foot of which the hinder one is short. the leg is covered with
feathers about half the distance between the knee and foot. when the wing
is expanded there are wide opening between it’s feathers the plumeage
being so narrow that it dose not extend from one quill to the other. the
wings are also proportionably short, reather more so than those of the
pheasant or grouse. the habits of this bird are much the same as those of
the grouse. only that the food of this fowl is almost entirely that of the
leaf and buds of the pulpy leafed thorn; nor do I ever recollect seeing
this bird but in the neighbourhood of that shrub. they sometimes feed on
the prickley pear. the gizzard of it is large and much less compressed and
muscular than in most fowls; in short it resembles a maw quite as much as
a gizzard. when they fly they make a cackling noise something like the
dunghill fowl. the following is a likeness of the head and beak. the flesh
of the cock of the Plains is dark, and only tolerable in point of flavor.
I do not think it as good as either the Pheasant or Grouse.it is
invariably found in the plains.The feathers about it’s head are pointed
and stif some hairs about the base of the beak. feathers short fine and
stif about the ears.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
Sunday, March 2nd. The diet of the sick is so poor that they recover their strength only slowly. None of them are sick now, but all are in a state of convalescence with keen appetites and nothing to eat except lean elk meat. Late this evening Drewyer (Drouillard) arrived with a most welcome supply of fat sturgeon, fresh anchovies, and a bag containing about a bushel of wappetoe. We feasted on anchovies and wappetoe.
The cock of the plains is found in the plains of Columbia and is in great abundance from the entrance of the S. E. fork of the Columbia to that of Clark's River. This bird is about two-thirds the size of a turkey. The beak is large, short, curved, and convex, with the upper exceeding the lower chap. The nostrils are large and the beak is black. The color is a uniform mixture of dark brown, rather bordering on a dove color, with reddish and yellowish brown and some small black specks. In this mixture the dark brown prevails and has a slight cast of the dove color at a little distance. The wider side of the large feathers of the wings is dark brown only. The tail is composed of 19 feathers, of which the one in the center is the longest, and the remaining 9 on each side diminish by pairs as they recede from the center; that is, any one feather is equal in length to the one equally distant from the center of the tail on the opposite side. The tail, when folded, comes to a very sharp point and appears long in proportion to the body. In the act of flying the tail resembles that of a wild pigeon, though the motion of the wings is much like that of the pheasant and grouse. They have four toes on each foot, of which the hinder one is short. The leg is covered with feathers about half the distance between the knee and foot. When the wing is expanded there are wide openings between its feathers, the plumage being so narrow that it does not extend from one quill to the other. The wings are also proportionably short, rather more so than those of the pheasant or grouse. The habits of this bird are much the same as those of the grouse, only that the food of this fowl is almost entirely the leaf and buds of the pulpy-leafed thorn; nor do I ever recollect seeing this bird except in the neighborhood of that shrub. They sometimes feed on the prickly pear. The gizzard of it is large and much less compressed and muscular than in most fowls; in short, it resembles a maw quite as much as a gizzard. When they fly they make a cackling noise something like the dunghill fowl. The following is a likeness of the head and beak. The flesh of the cock of the plains is dark, and only tolerable in point of flavor. I do not think it as good as either the pheasant or grouse. It is invariably found in the plains. The feathers about its head are pointed and stiff, with some hairs about the base of the beak. The feathers about the ears are short, fine, and stiff.
This modernization is AI-generated for accessibility. The original above is the authoritative version.
Entities mentioned in this entry
Auto-extracted from the entry text. Hover any entity for context.
