PRAIRIE HEN. 11 



may be realized from the fact that in 1902 the supply at from $3 to 

 $5 a brace nowhere met the demand. Years ago prairie chickens 

 were shipped east by carloads, but to-day scarcity of birds and a com- 

 mendable stringency of laws practically preclude shipments. 



Many sportsmen declare that there is no better sport than ' chicken ' 

 shooting. The bird unquestionably is one of the noblest of game 

 birds. Though in speed of flight it by no means equals the ruflPed 

 grouse or the bobwhite, it furnishes fine sport when hunted with dogs. 

 Early in the season, in suitable cover, it lies to a dog like a stone. So 

 reluctant occasionally is it to fly that it can hardly be put up, and 

 Professor Cooke informs the writer that several times while hunting 

 in northern Minnesota he saw a pointing dog jump and catch a three- 

 fourths grown prairie hen. Late in the fall, however, when gathered 

 in large packs, they do not lie well. 



Early in the season — that is, during the last two weeks of August 

 and the first part of September — the prairie hen affords a better test 

 of a dog's ability to hunt fast and to range out a mile or more from 

 the gun than does the bobwhite. It is for this reason that field trials 

 on ' chickens ' are always well patronized, and the dogs that win are 

 highly valued. So highly esteemed is the prairie chicken as the 

 quarry of ' racing ' dogs that abundant means for the restocking of 

 suitable places with the species is likely to be forthcoming from field- 

 trial patrons. The ideal conditions for ' chicken ' shooting are real- 

 ized in a fenceless country, where it is possible for the hunter to drive, 

 while the dogs range from a quarter of a mile to a mile away from 

 the wagon. As soon as they point game the sportsman hurries up 

 and shoots. The driver ' marks down ' the birds that escape and 

 ])erhaps fly half a mile before alighting. Then the wagon advances 

 to where they dropped, and shooting is again in order. In some 

 parts of the country the sport stops at 10 or 11 o'clock in the morning, 

 because of the intense heat during the middle of the day, when the 

 birds are resting in places difficult of access, and is not resumed 

 before 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon. 



PRESERVATION AND PROPAGATION. 



The prairie hen deserves well of man. It is beneficial to agricul- 

 ture, is one of the best table delicacies, and its booming call is the 

 dominant spring note of the plains, as the bird is their most character- 

 istic resident. Furthermore, the number of entries to the yearly field 

 trials on ' chickens ' speak for it as an object of sport. In view of 

 all the good qualities of the bird, the causes of its diminished numbers 

 should be sought, and adequate means applied to ])resei-V(^ it fi-oui 

 extinction. 



At the beginning of the nineteenth century the prairie hen was 



