254 BULLETIN 162, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



then settled down in the grass to call for them. These two young 

 would have perished without my intervention. An experiment of 

 placing young in a hat near the nest also proved the bird's lack of 

 resourcefulness to cope with an unusual situation. 



Few things in nature have a greater human appeal than a family 

 of gallinaceous birds. The whole scene from the hatching of the 

 first young to the departure of the brood is one brimming with 

 thrilling incidents. The motherly interest of the old bird when the 

 first youngster pokes its head through the breast feathers and gives 

 a contented peep, as it picks at its mother's bill or her eye, is an 

 event never to be forgotten. Then the unexpected poking of a downy 

 head through the plumage, first at the side, then through a rear 

 window, and perhaps two youngsters surprising each other as they 

 appear simultaneously, all are experiences that make a long vigil 

 in the blind well worth the effort. As more of the young hatch they 

 become more daring and may vigorously compete for a position on 

 the mother's back. They make repeated attempts to scale the slip- 

 pery feathered dome, and finally when one does succeed he has an 

 unmistakable look of triumph. All these things seem to have a 

 truly human aspect, and surely the most skeptical can not help but 

 take an anthropomorphic attitude toward their behavior. 



Ordinarily a few hours after the young are hatched the old bird 

 leaves the nest, allowing the young to follow after her. She gener- 

 ally goes a few yards, settles in the grass and then continues calling 

 until all the young are gone. This procedure is repeated until she is 

 well away from the nest. During this time the young are brooded 

 a great deal, but before many hours, especially if the day is warm, 

 they become active in searching for insects and other food. 



Plumages. — In a prairie chicken a few hours old the chin and lores 

 are " primuline yellow," sides of head, including down on eyelids, 

 " naphthalene yellow," throat and breast " wax yellow," remainder of 

 underparts " barium yellow," and down on tarsus " straw yellow." 



The lighter areas above are yellowish, strongly tinged with " cin- 

 namon," which approaches " Mikado brown " on the rump, and the 

 entire upper parts are marked with numerous irregular black spots 

 and patches. There is a small black patch back of the eye and three 

 irregular shaped black spots in the auricular region. The iris is 

 " dark Quaker drab," the base of the upper mandible is " pecan 

 brown " and tipped with a lighter color, and the upper surface of the 

 mandible is black, which extends for a distance equal to two-thirds 

 the length of the bill. The lower mandible is pale "flesh color," 

 tipped with " straw yellow." The posterior part of the tarsus, not 

 covered with down, is " yellowish citrine." The upper surface of 



