HEATH HEN. 



\/[ ARTHA'S VINEYARD, an island off the coast of 

 Massachusetts, is the last stronghold of the Heath 

 Hen, which formerly dwelt in various parts of that State, 

 as well as in Connecticut, on Long Island, on Hempstead 

 Plains, and other localities, New Jersey, and Pennsyl- 

 vania. It may also have ranged over a greater part of 

 the Middle States. It closely resembles the Pinnated 

 Grouse of the Western States, and it would require an 

 expert to distinguish readily the points of difference 

 between them. But still in coloring, shape of the lance- 

 olate neck feathers of the male, short tarsus, and gen- 

 erally smaller size, it has sufficient differences to be 

 classed as a distinct species. 



The Heath Hen is, now at all events, a woodland bird 

 and dwells among the almost impregnable tracts of 

 scrubby oaks and pines which cover perhaps an area 

 of forty square miles, and comprise about all the wooded 

 portion of Martha's Vineyard. Within this limited area 

 several hundred birds are assembled, the last remnant 

 of the great host that at one time was spread over a 

 number of the Atlantic States. The nature of the coverts 

 they frequent, difficult for man to penetrate, and their 

 habit of remaining almost continually in the thick woods, 

 insures that protection which will probably preserve the 

 species, even in its diminished numbers, for a long time 

 to come. Living thus almost entirely in these woods 

 of scrub oaks, the birds feed on the acorns that lie scat- 

 tered over the ground, occasionally wandering out into 



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