142 FRANK SCHLEY'S PARTRIDGE AND PHEASANT SHOOTING. 



Allen met with this species in several points in Kansas and 

 in Colorado, where they had either just made their appear- 

 ance, or where they had recenth* been noticed, and were 

 observed to be on the increase. The small remnants left 

 in Massachusetts are protected by law, which may pre- 

 serve them a few 3-ears longer; and in Illinois and other 

 Western States stringent provisions seek to prevent their 

 wanton destruction. In Michigan, according to Mr. D. D. 

 Hughes, this Grouse is common in the two Southern tiers 

 of counties, but is rarely met with in that State farther 

 North — an absence attributable to the want of open coun- 

 try and suitable food, as West of Lake Michigan it is found 

 in great abundance much farther North. In the more 

 Southern portion of the State it is already very rare, and 

 in localities completely exterminated. Dr. Woodhouse 

 found this bird quite abundant throughout the Indian Terri- 

 tory; more numerous, however, in the vicinity of settle- 

 ments. During the Fall of 1849, as he was passing down 

 the Arkansas Eiver. along the road leading fi'om Fort Gib- 

 son to Fort Smith, these birds were in large flocks, feeding 

 among the oaks upon the acorns ; hundreds were to be seen 

 at the same time. It was also very common throughout 

 Eastern Texas. Mr. Dresser found the Pinnated Grouse 

 ver}' common in travelling from Brownsville to Victoria, 

 after leaving the Chaparral and entering the Prairie coun- 

 try. Throughout the whole of the prairie country of 

 Texas it is abundant. They were found by Mr. Audubon 

 especially abundant in the States of Kentucky. Missouri, 

 Illinois, and Indiana, where his observations date back 

 more than half a century, and when the country was com- 

 paratively unsettled. It was there, he states, in what was 

 then known as the Barrens of Kentucky, that before sun- 

 rise, or at the close of the day, he " heard its curious boom- 

 ing, witnessed its obstinate battles, watched it during the 

 progress of its courtships, noted its nest and eggs, and fol- 

 lowed its young until, fully grown, they betook themselves 

 to winter quarters." When he tirst removed to Kentucky 

 the Pinnated Grouse were »o plentiful, and were held in 



