GREATER PRAIRIE CHICKEN 257 



the pinnated grouse more closely than the sharp-tailed grouse, while 

 the other, shot at Gough Lake in the southern part of the Province, 

 resembles more nearly the sharp-tailed grouse. The ovary of the 

 Edmonton bird, according to Mr. Rowan, was normal. These are the 

 only Alberta hybrids known to him, but he states that hybrids be- 

 tween the prairie chicken and the sharp-tailed grouse are frequent 

 in Manitoba, where the pinnated grouse is more numerous than it is 

 in Alberta. 



Glenn Berner, of Jamestown, N. Dak., writes that he killed a 

 hybrid grouse in 1923 in which the back, head, and tail resembled 

 the prairie chicken, whereas the breast, legs, feet, and under tail 

 parts were like those of the sharp-tailed grouse. The breast was not 

 barred as in the prairie chicken but spotted as in the sharp-tailed 

 grouse. The bird when flying had the characteristic cackle of the 

 sharp-tailed grouse. 



According to O. A. Stevens, Fargo, N. Dak., there is a hybrid in 

 the collection at the North Dakota State Agricultural College. 



I have examined a female and three male hybrid specimens of the 

 prairie chicken and sharp-tailed grouse in the Museum of Compara- 

 tive Zoology, at Cambridge, Mass., which were obtained in the Bos- 

 ton markets, March 24, 1873, February, 1887, December 29, 1899, and 

 January 24, 1893, respectively. So far as I know, these hybrids do 

 not reproduce themselves, and in most cases this is probably due to 

 the sterility of the individuals. 



Food. — The prairie chicken, like other grouse, is adaptable in its 

 food eating habits, varying its diet from season to season and sus- 

 taining its life on the food that is most abundant and easily 

 obtained. 



Dr. Sylvester D. Judd (1905a) reported on the examination of 71 

 stomachs of prairie chickens collected in the Middle West and rep- 

 resenting all months of the year except July. The food consisted of 

 14.11 per cent animal matter, chiefly grasshoppers, and 85.89 per 

 cent vegetable matter, made up of seeds, fruit, grain, leaves, flowers, 

 and bud twigs. 



According to Judd's report the prairie hen is highly insectivorous 

 from May to October inclusive, insects constituting one-third of the 

 food of the specimens shot during this period. The species is par- 

 ticularly valuable as an enemy of the Rocky Mountain locust. Dur- 

 ing an invasion by this pest in Nebraska, 16 out of 20 grouse killed 

 by Prof. Samuel Aughey (1878) from May to October inclusive, 

 had eaten 866 locusts. Beetles and miscellaneous insects were eaten 

 in smaller numbers. 



From October to April, inclusive, according to the Biological 

 Survey report (Judd, 1905a), the prairie hen takes little but vege- 



