GREATER PRAIRIE CHICKEN 253 



necessary. Though the young quickly perish if cold, especially if 

 wet, they will make rapid and remarkable recoveries from nearly 

 paralyzed conditions. Young that seem almost lifeless can be 

 quickly restored to an active condition by merely holding them in 

 your hand and blowing your breath over them for 10 or 15 minutes. 

 In one instance a mother bird was frightened away from the nest 

 at night and failed to return. The young, still damp from the fluids 

 of the eggs, seemed destined to die. They were taken inside the 

 blind, revived, and then kept alive and contented all night by 

 placing them against my body inside of a flannel shirt. At day- 

 break the old bird appeared on the scene and claimed the youngsters 

 one by one as they were released under the burlap of the blind. 



The language of the prairie chicken is readily understood by the 

 young, even when first hatched. If the young are taken inside of the 

 blind at the time of hatching they are indifferent to various sounds 

 and notes of other birds calling outside of the blind, but as soon as 

 the adult prairie chicken appears and begins calling they respond at 

 once. If she gives her brirrrb-brirrrb call, they struggle all over 

 one another trying to get out, but if the old bird becomes alarmed 

 and suspicious she gives a sharp shrill call of caution and imme- 

 diately each little chick cows down and " freezes " to a perfectly 

 motionless pose. Chicks set free at the edge of the blind made no 

 effort to go to the mother bird unless called. As soon as the call note 

 is given there seems to be an irresistible impulse on the part of the 

 young to follow that call, although they can not see the old bird. 

 When the chicks wander from the nest at hatching time that same 

 call brings them back, and hence this response is important in their 

 preservation and doubtless is a matter of evolutionary development. 

 Though the character of the call has a distinct meaning to the birds, 

 one can with little effort imitate it and completely deceive the adult 

 or young. I have often made use of this fact by inducing the bird 

 to come near enough to the blind to obtain large portrait pictures of 

 her. One can so excite the bird that is nearing the hatching time 

 that she will exhibit an unusual behavior, such as turning the eggs 

 over and over or twisting and squirming about the nest. She will, 

 if the call, is well imitated and continued, leave the eggs to search for 

 the young. The bird at one nest under observation circled the blind 

 again and again and even attempted to get under the burlap to 

 reach what she apparently supposed was a young in distress. The 

 old bird seems to have but little resourcefulness in aiding a young 

 in unusual situations. In one case where the bird was taking her 

 young away from the nest, two of the young accidentally fell into a 

 deep horse track. The young called desperately, but the mother 

 seemed helpless. She raced around the opening several times and 



