GKEATER PRAIRIE CHICKEN 243 



lowed by long, cold, rainy spells during the first two weeks of June 

 will cause hundreds of broods to perish. 



During severe winters, especially when deep snows cover the 

 ground, the birds are severely pressed to obtain enough food. A 

 successful attempt has been made in Wisconsin to relieve this con- 

 dition by the establishment of winter feeding stations. Crops of 

 buckwheat and other grains are planted and left in the field to pro- 

 vide food to tide over the birds during these severe times. 



One of the major problems involved in the conservation of the 

 prairie chicken is the menacing fires that have swept the prairie 

 regions during the nesting season of the birds. A fire at this time 

 will destroy hundreds of nesting birds and their nests and eggs and 

 in the course of a few hours undo the work of years of conservation 

 work. Fires in fall destroy quantities of prairie-chicken food and 

 the much-needed cover, without which the birds are left exposed to 

 predators. The encroachment upon the breeding and feeding area 

 by agriculture has long been recognized as a factor that has affected 

 the status of the prairie chicken in the Middle West. This unfavor- 

 able situation is being relieved somewhat by the establishment of 

 large State game preserves, on which the birds are given absolute 

 protection and where conditions are systematically improved for the 

 birds. The maintenance of winter feeding stations has been espe- 

 cially helpful in tiding the birds over the times when deep snows 

 cover most of the normal food supply. 



Intensive hunting has done much toward decimating the numbers 

 of prairie chickens. The automobile and the fine modern roads have 

 all been in favor of the hunter and against the birds. 



Predators in their relation to game birds are important, but the 

 value of vermin control is frequently overestimated. The wholesale 

 killing of all hawks and owls, for example, should be rigidly avoided, 

 for in the past this practice has actually acted as a boomerang to the 

 objective of conservation of game birds. 



Diseases and parasites of birds have not been well known in the 

 past, but they are now becoming to be recognized as important 

 factors in the life of our game birds. Under ordinary conditions, 

 diseases and parasites may be of minor importance, but just as soon 

 as the vitality and normal resistance of the birds are lowered by a 

 series of adverse conditions, such as severe weather and scarcity of 

 food, diseases and parasites manifest themselves and become of 

 prime importance. It is the exceptional bird that is not parasitized, 

 and hence this menace is ever present. There is also danger of 

 infectious diseases, such as blackhead, which has been found to 

 affect the prairie chicken and which figured in the decline of the 

 heath hen. It is highly probable that the cycles in the grouse 

 population are primarily dependent on some disease, either in itself 



