The Prairie Hen {Tympanuclius amcyicanus) 

 By Amos Butler 



Synonyms, — Prairie Chicken; Pinnated Grouse. 



Description. — Adult male: Above dusky-brown to blackish, narrowly barred 

 and spotted with ociiraceuus-butT of several shades; crown blackish, less spotted 

 with biUT; an elongated tuft of feathers on each side of the neck, brownish-black, 

 the uppermost feathers rufous-and-bufl'y-strijicd on the inner webs; tips of 

 feathers rounded or truncated ; beneath the neck-tufts a bare space of orange- 

 colored skin, largely concealed at rest; wing-quills, light fuscous, spotted with 

 whitish or ochraceous-butT on external webs; tail, rounded, fuscous, blackening 

 toward the tip, the central feathers narrowly white-tipped ; chin, throat, and sides 

 of head, buffy or ochraceous with a blackish malar stripe and an obscure spot of 

 same color on side of throat; remaining under parts evenly barred with light 

 grayish-brown and white, tinged more or less with ochraceous on sides and some- 

 times on breast; nearly unmarked on lower belly and crissum; tarsi fully 

 feathered, plain ochraceous. .Idiilt female: Similar, but neck-tufts smaller and 

 shorter; tail regularly and narrowly barred with ochraceous-bufT or tawny. Ivt- 

 maturc: Brownish above, with medial white streaks and heavy blotches of black; 

 chest, brownish-tinged and spotted rather than barred. Measurements of six 

 Monroeville Prairie specimens in O. S. U. museum. — Two males : length 18.25 

 (463.6) ; wing 9.25 (235.) ; tail 3.85 (97.8) ; bill from nostril .52 (13.2) ; neck- 

 tufts, 3.30 (83.8). Four females: length, 17.15 (435.6) ; wing, 8.32 (211.3) ; tail 

 3.50 (88.9) : bill from nostril .49 (12.5) ; neck-tufts 1.65 (41.9). 



Recognition Marks. — Crow size ; general barred appearance ; elongated, 

 erectile tufts on side of neck ; distensible air-sacs distinctive. 



Nest, on the ground in open fields or in the edges of swamps, lined with 

 grasses and feathers. Eggs, 8-15, usually about a dozen, dull buffy-drab or olive, 

 usually unmarked but sometimes speckled with brown. Average size, 1.70 x 1.27 

 (43.2x32.3). 



General Range. — Prairies of the Mississippi Valley; south to Louisiana and 

 Texas, east to Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Ontario, west through east- 

 ern portions of North Dakota, Indian Territory and intervening states, north to 

 Manitoba ; general tendency to extension of range westward, and contraction cast- 

 ward ; migration north and south in Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri. 



The life histor>' of the Prairie Hen of Ohio will probably never be written ; 

 certainly not unless some one is at great pains to interview the older hunters of 

 the passing generation, and succeeds in piecing together scraps of information 

 which have lain long dormant in memory. Having become quite extinct within 

 twenty years, the bird was confined to a few restricted localities in the north- 

 central and north-western parts of the state for as many more, and it has been a 

 half century since it was common even in those regions. So far as known the 

 last survivors were seen during the early '80s in Erie and Huron counties. The 

 last record for Franklin County is that given by Dr. J. M. Wheaton ; November 

 16, 1878. 



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