THE PINNATED GROUSE. 



203 



Gobbler. He is then in full dress; and his conse- 

 quential attitudes and pompous manners give him 

 quite an animated appearance. Companies of ten or 

 twenty frequently assemble at daybreak, and perform 

 these exciting manosuvres, -which mostly result in 

 fiercely contested battles, in which they attack each 

 other in the manner of the common game-fowl. 



Prairie Hen, or Pinnated Grouse. 



The peculiar rolling or tooting sound which it 

 generally makes before sunrise, although in the un- 

 settled districts it is often heard from morning till 

 night, is produced by inflating to their full extent 

 the bladder-like appendages above the wings, and 

 then throwing the head forward, forcing it through 

 the throat in distinct rolling or undulating notes. 



