118 KNOWING BIRDS THROUGH STORIES 



where their peculiar stripes of various shades of brown 

 blended perfectly with the grass and earth, but should I 

 get too near and they saw my eye was not on them they 

 did not hesitate to run six or eight feet like a streak and 

 then again squat on the ground and hide. I used to be 

 almost afraid to walk about lest I step on some little fel- 

 lows that might be hiding imder my feet, but I never 

 had this misfortune, probably because they were shrewd 

 enough to slip out of the way of my foot if it got too 

 near. 



By the time they were two weeks old their wing and 

 tail feathers had grown amazingly and they were beginning 

 to fly. At three weeks, while not nearly half grown, they 

 could fly as well as their mother, and if anything dis- 

 turbed them they usually flew away in a flock. 



Prairie chickens are now scarce in almost every part 

 of the country. Perhaps they are most numerous in the 

 Dakotas, Nebraska, and Northwestern Texas at present. 

 They are larger than the New England partridge or pheas- 

 ant, but not so large as the Western sage hen. In fact, they 

 are about the size of some of the grouse that are found in 

 the Eocky Mountain districts. All of these birds belong to 

 the same family, and have the same general character. All 

 have been favorite gam 3 birds, and imder the relentless 

 hand of man are growing scarcer. 



Seemingly no one has successfully domesticated the 

 prairie chicken, but they certainly are no wilder and 

 should be no harder to domesticate than the guinea of 

 South Africa ; and this fowl has within the last few hun- 

 dred years become almost as well domesticated as the com- 

 mon chicken. I am sure the prairie chicken is superior in 

 almost every way to the guinea fowl, and it is unfortunate 



