PINNATED GROUSE 243 
very plentiful, and we have sections in Minnesota where 
the pinnated grouse are just as thick as they ever were. 
“The State game warden of Manitoba states that 
their prairie chickens are not disappearing at all; in 
fact, they are increasing under rigid protection and 
stopping the sale. That is only across an imaginary 
line of Minnesota and Dakota, where these birds are 
plentiful, but in the southern part of our State, where 
dairying has taken the place of grain-raising, there are 
hardly any of the birds left. The sharp-tailed grouse, 
however, are different, as they are found in the brush 
country in great numbers where farms are opened up. 
“A very pleasing thing happened to me last March. 
I was up in the northern part of the State, and in a 
drive of three hours I came across a stretch of land that 
had been cleared of jack pine. The clearing was several 
miles in extent, but it was surrounded by jack pine. 
The snow at the time was over two feet deep. The 
land last year was cultivated, some corn grown on it 
and some wheat and other coarse grain. In that clear- 
ing, the man with me and I counted over two hundred 
pinnated grouse. They appeared to have wintered 
finely and seemed in good condition.” 
When we reach Nebraska, we approach the limit of 
the pinnated grouse and enter the region of the sharp- 
tail just as we do in Minnesota. Both species were 
formerly abundant in Nebraska, but were so overshot 
by thoughtless gunners and by market shooters that 
they became rare. Mr. G. L. Carter, then chief warden 
