THE PRAIRIE HEN. 197 



confinement. They are fed with rye bread, mixed with the yolk of an &<g^\ 

 and then with rye bread chopped up with bullock's liver. 



In France the bustards are considered birds of passage. They come 

 about the beginning of December, and assemble in small groups of thirty 

 or forty, and betake themselves to the vast plains of Champagne and Poitou. 

 If the winter is very severe, they are more widely scattered, but they prefer 

 those spots which are remote from human habitations, and where they can 

 sec to a great distance. 



All kinds of stratagems are used to catch them. The peasant disguises 

 himself in the hide of a cow, and creeps on all fours, in order to deceive the 

 birds, or he covers himself with a little hut, and steals along, fancying he 

 shall not be seen. 



In the Crimean War the British officers amused themselves with hunting 

 the bustards which inhabit the central plains of Asia. 



The flesh of the bustard is held in great esteem on the continent, and 

 is exposed for sale in the markets. 



THE PRAIRIE HEN. 



The proper name of the very curious and beautiful bird in the picture is 

 the pinnated grouse, and it belongs to the grouse family; but its popular 

 name is the prairie hen. 



There is a great deal to say about the heath hen, and we think we must 

 first take you to a few of the places where it lives. 



The barrens of Kentucky are not, as their name implies, bare an^ sterile, 

 but in their season teem with beauty. Here are vast plains covered with 

 flowers and verdure ; and here, also, are tlie orchards and the fields of the 

 settler and his homestead. And so luxuriant is nature that tlie wild fruit- 

 trees have their branches interlaced with the vine, and ripe strawberries carpet 

 the ground. Here, too, are groves and valleys, and springs of clear cool 

 water. And here is the home of many a living creature that dwells in 

 security and plenty. The graceful deer glides along, and the wild turkey 

 leads out her brood amid the grass herbage. 



