_THE PRAIRIE HEN. 435 
now by most naturalists, including such well-known ornithologists as Brewster, 
Merriam and Henshaw, that the sound is produced by the outspread wings 
of the bird being suddenly brought downward against the air, without striking 
anything.” 
Another noisy surprise is in store for the person who comes upon a 
mother Partridge with a brood of tender chicks. With a great outcry the 
mother bird charges up in front of the intruder, or dashes into his face; then 
stands before him with flashing eyes and ruffled feathers looking fierce enough 
te eat him up. Thus she holds the enemy at bay for one bewildered moment,— 
a precious moment, in which her tiny darlings are finding shelter. Then she 
collapses like a struck tent and vanishes in a trice. A diligent search may 
discover a chick under a fallen leaf, or between two pieces of bark, but no 
living man can find an entire brood in this way. 
The Ruffed Grouse is still not uncommon in the hilly counties in the 
southern and eastern portions of the state, but it is nowhere found in such 
numbers as formerly. Its suitable range is necessarily somewhat restricted 
by the advance of civilization, but it is a hardy bird and there is no reason 
why it should not be retained as a permanent inhabitant of the state. As 
it is, the species stands in need of an extended period of absolute protection, 
followed by a rigid enforcement of good laws, that it may recover its rightful 
status. 
No. 195. 
PRAIRIE HEN. 
A. O. U. No. 305. Tympanuchus americanus (Reich. ) 
Synonyms.—Prairiz CuickKeEN; PInNATED GROUSE. 
Description.—Adult male: Above dusky-brown to blackish, narrowly 
barred and spotted with ochraceous-buff of several shades; crown blackish, less 
spotted with buff; an elongated tuft of feathers on each side of the neck, brown- 
ish-black, the uppermost feathers rufous-and-buffy-striped on the inner webs; 
tips of feathers rounded or truncated; beneath the neck-tufts a bare space of 
orange-colored skin, largely concealed at rest; wing-quills, light fuscous, spotted 
with whitish or ochraceous-buff on external webs; tail, rounded, fuscous, black- 
ening toward the tip, the central feathers narrowly white-tipped ; chin, throat, and 
sides of head, buffy or ochraceous with a blackish malar stripe and an obscure 
spot of same color on side of throat; remaining under parts evenly barred with 
light grayish-brown and white, tinged more or less with ochraceous on sides 
and sometimes on breast ; nearly unmarked on lower belly and crissum; tarsi fully 
feathered, plain ochraceous. Adult female: Similar, but neck-tufts smaller and 
shorter; tail regularly and narrowly barred with ochraceous-buff or tawny. IJm- 
mature: Brownish above, with medial white streaks and heavy blotches of black; 
