114 GAME BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 
often extraordinary, how easily the chicks will disappear 
from view and effectually escape all search, be it carried 
on ever so patiently and perseveringly, even on the open 
prairie with apparently no opportunities for conceal- 
ment. Towards the end of August the broods are 
nearly full grown, and later in the season many flocks 
pack together until several hundreds are present in one 
gathering. They are then usually very wild, and, when 
started, will fly often several miles before alighting, and 
little can be done with them over dogs. But before this 
congregating together takes place the Prairie Chicken 
lies well to the dog, and is one of the most desirable of 
the game birds as an object of sport in the field. 
A covey having been located by the dog, the birds will 
almost always lie very close, flushing in easy range in 
twos or threes, and after, as may be supposed, all the 
birds have either flown away or rest in the sportsman’s 
game bag, there is always still one old bird remaining, 
which rises at length with a prodigious fluttering and 
cackling, either just when the sportsman is reloading 
his gun and so escapes, or else, having miscalculated 
his time, appears when the guns are all ready for him, 
and joins his brethren in the pocket or wagon. When 
young, the flesh of the Prairie Hen is white, but becomes 
dark as the bird attains its full growth. It is excellent 
for the table, especially when eaten soon after the bird 
is killed, for it loses flavor after having been kept for 
a length of time, especially if, as*is the case with thou- 
sands of birds served in the Eastern cities, they have been 
frozen, tossed about perhaps for weeks like lumps of ice, 
and then thawed out before being cooked. The most 
toothsome morsel in the world, after such treatment, 
could not be expected to have much more flavor than 
a dried chip. 
