62 ALLEN'S naturalist's LIBRARY. 



The males have an elongated tuft of feathers and an inflatable 

 air-sac on each side of the neck. 



I. THE PRAIRIE HEN. TYMPANUCHUS AMERICANUS. 



Cupidonia americana, Reichenb. Av. Syst. Nat. p. xxix. (1852). 

 Tetrao cupido, Wils. {nee Linn.), Am. Orn. iii. p. 104, pi. 27, 



fig. i(i8ii). 

 Cupidonia cupido, Baird {nee Linn.), B. N. Amer. p. 628 



(i860) [part]; Elliot, Monogr. Tetraon. pi. xvi. (1865). 

 lynipanuchus amerieajius, Ridgw. Auk. iii. p. 132 (1886); 

 Bendire, Life Hist. N. Am. B. p. 88 (1892); Ogilvie- 

 Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 78 (1893). 



Adult Male. — Above barred with rufous- or brownish-buff and 

 black ; below barred with brownish- black and white. Feathers 

 of the neck-tufts much produced, about 3 inches in length, the 

 longer ones being parallel-edged^ with rounded or trimcate ex- 

 tremities; chest-feathers white, with tivo broiV7i bars as tvide as 

 the white interspaces ; outer tail-feathers black, narrowly tipped 

 with white. Total length, 16-5 inches; wing, 9; tail, 3-9; 

 tarsus, I '9. 



Adult Female. — Differs in having the neck-tufts short; the 

 outer tail-feathers barred with rufous-buff. Measurements 

 usually a trifle less than those of the male. 



Range. — This species inhabits the prairies of the Mississippi 

 Valley, extending northwards to southern Manitoba and Wis- 

 consin, south to Louisiania and Texas, east to Indiana, Ken- 

 tucky, and North-western Ohio, and west to Indian Territory, 

 Kansas, Nebraska, and Dakota. 



Habits. — This species is a resident throughout the greater 

 part of its range, but it seems that in Iowa a regular though 

 local migration takes place. 



As soon as severe weather sets in, large flocks of these birds 

 leave the northern prairies and go south to winter in Northern 

 Missouri and Southern Iowa, the migration varying in bulk with 



