THE PRAIRIE CHICKEN 115 



ground in this tall slough grass. These nests were de- 

 pressions scratched in the ground, but there was always 

 enough grass and leaves scratched together so that the 

 eggs were well protected. The eggs were almost identi- 

 cal with guinea fowl eggs in both size and shape, and it was 

 not uncommon to find as many as fifteen in a nest. Not 

 realizing how much mischief we were doing, we boys used 

 to hunt these nests and take the eggs home and boil them. 

 In flavor they tasted very much like a guinea's egg, tho 

 if anything they were of even better quality. I was in East- 

 ern Nebraska one spring when a prairie fire swept over the 

 country. Undoubtedly there were few old birds killed 

 by this fire and the young had not yet hatched, but one 

 could walk over the black and charred ground, especially in 

 the low places where the tall grass had been abundant, and 

 find eggs literally by the hundreds. We gathered all of 

 these we could use. Some were roasted, some were merely 

 scorched, and some seemingly were not injured at all. 



As prairie chickens grew scarce at home we began to 

 follow the practise of leaving the grass for the prairie 

 chickens' special use in one little slough that ran through 

 a field which we usually planted to com. There it was that 

 I got my first idea of the injury crows do other birds. We 

 were plowing. Brother John and I, on the same land, one 

 team following the other, when an old black crow alighted 

 on a tall fence stake at the edge of this slough. Presently 

 he hopped off on the ground and we noticed a strange 

 sight. He would peck at something and flutter and flap 

 his wings and then jump back. Presently we saw an old 

 prairie hen attempting to drive this black rascal away 

 from this piece of ground. She would peck and scratch 

 and pound with her wings equal to any old setting hen. 



