74 MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



rather than the deep woods. Indeed, I have been informed that they have 

 nested upon the ground in the open, but as I have not personally known of 

 such an instance I will not include them positively within this list of 

 species. 



In the mucky lowlands or marsh meadows, we find that of the above list 

 of upland nesters all are found to be present except the Prairie Horned 

 Lark, Grass Finch, Grasshopper Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Mourning 

 Dove and Dickcissel or Black-throated Bunting. With these exceptions 

 we find the same list holding good but with the addition of three species 

 not found nesting in the uplands. These we will briefly consider. 



The Prairie Hen, Tympanuclius americanm, was found in great abund- 

 ance by the first settlers of Michigan, inhabiting the marshes and 

 patches of prairie land and among the more open hills upon which the 

 scattered, wide-spreading oak trees grew. As the land was cleared, 

 they continued to thrive and fatten in the grain stubbles, but when 

 every man came to own a gun, and they became scattered in the fall 

 over the whole upland country they were slaughtered without mercy. 

 The heavy, bungling rise of the Prairie Chicken makes it so easy a mark 

 that it can scarcely be missed and it was persecuted for fun until it was 

 practically extinct except in the prairie regions of the southwest of the 

 State where yet a few remained. On April 13, 1894, however, a flock of 

 sixteen were all at once discovered near Norvell, Jackson county. (For 

 full notes concerning this flock see American Naturalist, Vol. XXVIII, 

 No. 355.) Since that time they have done very well until last fall when 

 the hunters ruthlessly slaughtered eleven birds and this after I had 

 distributed signs, warning hunters to keep off, among the owners of all 

 the land where they were found. These signs were generally tacked up, 

 but under the softening influence of a few cigars the land owners yielded 

 to so called friends and the birds suffered. They have become very shy 

 and are so scattered now that they are in reality very difficult to obtain 

 so I hope for their presence for a few years yet, at least. The nests are 

 made of grasses and leaves in the thick herbage of the drier marshes, 

 early in May. One nest found last summer contained ten eggs of a 

 brownish drab color. The food of the Prairie Hen consists of grass- 

 hoppers or locusts, crickets — in fact almost any insects, through the 

 summer. They usually resort to the grain stubbles after harvest where 

 the waste kernels are eaten until the bird becomes almost helplessly fat. 

 Of no harm, to speak of, and undoubtedly of great service to the farmer 

 in ridding the fields of noxious insects. Why will he not protect them? 

 Is it stupidity or ignorance? Probably both. 



The Red-winged Blackbird, Agelakis plwrniceus, has in one instance been 

 found to leave its customary reeds and cat-tails in the bog and build its 

 nest in a tuft of grass in an open marsh, well drained and regularly cut 

 for hay and afterwards pastured. It was situated at least one-fourth mile 

 from water and entirely away from any bush or other protection. 

 Usually coming to us about March 4th, we must admit that the red-wing, 

 as it gathers in huge flocks in the trees near our homes, furnishes us 

 with a sleigh-bell chorus of undeniable richness, interspersed with the 

 "tweck," "tweck," of those stopping for breath. This is one of the few 

 species which are gregarious in their song. The nests are usually built 

 in reeds, boggy tufts of sedge, or among cat-tails, standing in the water, 



