attwater's trairie chicken 263 



of writing (November, 1930) was still living on Marthas Vineyard, 

 Mass. Western Indiana marks the present eastern boundary of the 

 species. 



Many attempts have been made to transplant the prairie chicken 

 into other parts of the country. These have all met with failure, 

 except for an apparent introduction in northern Michigan. They 

 are reported as thriving in the vicinity of Sault Ste. Marie and 

 McMillan. 



The range as described is for the entire species, which has, how- 

 ever, been separated into three subspecies. True americanus, the 

 greater prairie chicken, formerly occurred from the southern parts 

 of the prairie Provinces of Canada and eastern Colorado east to 

 southwestern Ontario, northwestern Ohio, and western Pennsylvania. 

 The range of the heath hen (T. c. cwpido) included New England 

 (to southern New Hampshire), New York, and other States of the 

 Atlantic seaboard, probably south to and including Maryland. Att- 

 water's prairie chicken (T. c. attwaterl) is found in the coastal region 

 of Texas and southwestern Louisiana. 



Egg dates. — Manitoba : 6 records, May 24 to June 20. Minnesota 

 and Dakotas : 30 records, May 1 to June 18 ; 15 records, May 18 to 

 29. Wisconsin: 37 records, May 5 to July 10; 19 records, May 28 

 to June 20. Illinois and Iowa: 32 records, April 20 to June 6; 16 

 records, May 6 to 25. Marthas Vineyard : 3 records, June 2 and 5 

 and July 24. Texas : 4 records, April 3 to May 16. 



TYMPANUCHUS CUPIDO ATTWATERI (Bendire) 

 ATTWATER'S PRAIRIE CHICKEN 



HABITS 



The small dark race of the prairie chicken named atttvateri is con- 

 fined to southwestern Louisiana and eastern Texas, mainly in low 

 prairies in the coastal counties. It was described by Maj. Charles 

 E. Bendire (1894) and named by him in honor of Prof. H. P. Att- 

 water. He gives as the subspecific characters: 



Smaller than T. americanus, darker in color, more tawny above, usually with 

 more pronounced chestnut on the neck; smaller and more tawny light colored 

 spots on wing coverts, and much more scantily feathered tarsus, the latter never 

 feathered down to base of toes, even in front; a broad posterior strip of bare 

 skin being always exposed, even in winter, while in summer much the greater 

 part of the tarsus is naked. 



George Finlay Simmons (1925) describes its haunts as " rolling 

 open, grassy, fertile upland prairies, where the grass is from 1 to 3 

 feet tall, old and thick and mixed with weeds ; wheat and corn fields ; 

 takes to timber only during snow and sleety storms." 



