242 BULLETIN 162, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



TYMPANUCHUS CUPIDO AMERICANUS (Rcichcnbach) 

 GREATER PRAIRIE CHICKEN 



HABITS 



Contributed by Alfred Otto Gross 



The prairie chicken ranks first among the game birds of the prairies 

 of our Middle West. It is to the prairie what the ruffed grouse is 

 to the wooded sections of the country. As intensive agriculture 

 pushed to all sections of the range of the prairie chicken and as 

 interest in hunting increased, this fine game bird at one time seemed 

 in grave danger of following the course taken by the heath hen, 

 to extinction as a game bird. In fact, it is gone from much of its 

 former range, and its original numbers have been greatly reduced 

 in practically the entire area of its distribution. 



Because market hunting has been made a thing of the past since 

 the beginning of the twentieth century and also because of the in- 

 creasing restrictions on hunting by State departments, as well as 

 various effective conservation programs, the prairie chicken is now 

 holding its own and is increasing its numbers in many sections of 

 its present range. Another hopeful sign is the fact that it has been 

 extending its range to the northwest, and to-day the species is well 

 represented on the prairies of Manitoba and is gradually spreading 

 westward through Saskatchewan and Alberta, where formerly it 

 did not exist. 



The State Department of Conservation of Wisconsin has under- 

 taken a comprehensive investigation of the prairie chicken to ascer- 

 tain all the facts that affect its life, with the expectation that the de- 

 partment will be able to carrj? on a more effective program of con- 

 servation. Until the fundamental facts in the biology of our game 

 birds are clearly known, conservation commissions will be handi- 

 capped in handling questions of game legislation and game 

 management. 



Prairie chickens, in common with other grouse, go through definite 

 cycles of numbers. The problem of fluctuations in numbers of vari- 

 ous species of wild life is not yet definitely solved, but work on it 

 in relation to the ruffed grouse is being undertaken by many institu- 

 tions and individuals in different parts of the country; hence there 

 are excellent prospects of this work being brought to a successful 

 conclusion. 



The weather condition during the nesting season, especially during 

 the height of the hatching period, is so important that it is frequently 

 the determining factor in the number of young birds available for 

 the next hunting season. A series of torrential cloud-bursts fol- 



