PRAIRIE hen; prairie chicken; pinnated grouse. 141 



auricular patch. Lower parts yellowish-white, with irreg- 

 ular defined, transverse, grayish-brown broad bars; ante- 

 riorly more spotted, the juguknn tinged with brown. 



Chick (25,989, Eockford, Illinois.) 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 

 shoulder, and blotches down the middle of the back and 

 rump, deep black. 



Hab. — Prairies of the Mississippi Valley, from Louisiana, 

 northward. East to Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania. 

 Formerly along the eastern coast of the United States 

 from Long Island to Cape Cod, or farther. A few still 

 left on Naushon (?) and Martha's Vineyard. 



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 j^lumage. 



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 ot Martha's Vine3"ard, 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 

 extending with the areas developed 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 disap- 

 peared from the Middle and Eastern States; at the West 

 and Southwest it has greatly extended its distribution, 

 appearing in considerable numbers, and constantly increas- 

 ing as the country is settled and the land cultivated with 

 grain. Even in Illinois, where there has been a large in- 

 crease of population during the past ten years, these birds 

 are known to have become much more numerous. It is, 

 however, probable that they will again be driven from this 

 region when the population becomes quite dense. Mr. 



