TETRAONID^ — THE GROUSE. 



441 



whitish spots. Top of head rusty-brown with a black vertical and a dusky auricular 

 patch. Lower parts yellowish-white, with irregularly defined, transverse, grayish-brown 

 broad bars ; anteriorly 



y3~ """^^^^ i7o^'»- ? 



more spotted, the jugulum 

 tinged with brown. 



Chick (25,989, Rock- 

 ford, III). Bright lemon- 

 buff, tinged on sides and 

 jugulum with reddish ; 

 upper parts much washed 

 with rusty. A narrow 

 auricular streak, blotches 

 on the vertex and occiput, 

 a stripe across the shoul- 

 der, and blotches down 

 the middle of the back 

 and rump, deep black. 



Hab. Prairies of the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley, from Lou- 

 isiana, northward. East 

 to Pocono Mountains, 

 Pennsylvania. Formerly 

 along the eastern coast of 

 the United States from Long Island to Cape Cod, or farther. 

 Naushon (?) and Martha's Vineyard. 



Cupidonia cupido. 



A few still left on 



A pair from Calcasieu Pass, Louisiana, most resemble Illinois specimens, 

 but are smaller (wing, 8.60, instead of 9.00), and there is rather more reddish, 

 with less black, in the plumage, 



Habits. The Pinnated Grouse, more generally known through the country 

 as the Prairie Chicken or Prairie Hen, once occurred as far to the east as 

 Massachusetts, a few still remaining on the island of Martha's Vineyard, 



and where it was, in 

 the early settlement of 

 the country, a very 

 abundant bird ; and to 

 the southwest to Texas 

 and throughout the 

 Indian Territory, where 

 it appears to be extend- 

 ing with the areas de- 

 veloped by civilization. 

 While at the East this 

 bird has almost entirely 

 disappeared, in consequence of the increase of population, and except here 

 and there in a few small and distant districts has disappeared from the 

 Middle and Eastern States, at the West and Southwest it has greatly 

 extended its distribution, ajipearing in considerable numbers, and constantly 

 VOL. III. 56 



Cupidonia ciipido. 



