THE PRAIRIE HEN. 89 



tioned by former writers, and in the spring of 1884 a special study was made 

 of the matter. Many observers unite in testifying to the facts in the case, and 

 what is still more important, there is not a dissenting voice. One of the 

 observers does not exaggerate when he says: ' Prairie Chickens migrate as 

 regularly as a Canada Goose.' Summing up all the information received, the 

 facts of the case are as follows: In November and December large flocks of 

 Prairie Chickens come from northern Iowa and southern Minnesota to settle for 

 the winter in northern Missouri and southern Iowa. This migration varies in 

 bulk with the severity of the winter. During an early cold snap immense 

 flocks come from the northern prairies to southern Iowa, while in mild, open 

 winters the migration is much less pronounced. During a cold wet spring the 

 northward movement in March and April is largely arrested on the arrival of 

 the flocks 'in northern Iowa, but an early spring, with fair weather, finds them 

 abundant in the southern tier of counties in Minnesota, and many flocks pass 

 still further north. The most remarkable feature of this movement is found in 

 the sex of the migrants. It is the females that migrate, leaving the males to 

 brave the winter's cold. Mr. Miller, of Heron Lake, Minnesota, fairly states the 

 case when he says: 'The females in this latitude migrate south in the fall and 

 come back in the spring, about one or two days after the first Ducks; and they 

 keep coming in flocks of from ten to thirty for about three days, all flying 

 north. The Grouse that stay all winter are males." 1 



The mating season begins early, about the beginning of March, and the 

 packs sometimes commence to break up while the ground is still covered with 

 snow. 



Judge John Dean Caton describes the love-making of the male Pinnated 

 Grouse as follows: "The spring of the year is the season of courtship with 

 them, and it does not last all the year round as it does with humans, and 

 they do it in rather a loud way, too; and instead of taking the evening, as 

 many people are inclined to do, they choose the early morning. Early in 

 the morning you may see them assemble in parties, from a dozen to fifty 

 together, on some high dry knolls, where the grass is short, and their goings 

 on would make you laugh. The cock birds have a loose patch of naked 

 yellow skin on each side of the neck just below the head, and above these 

 on either side, just where the head joins the neck, are a few long black 

 feathers, which ordinarily lay backward on the neck, but which, when excited, 

 they can pitch straight forward. Those yellow naked patches on either side 

 of the neck cover sacs which they can blow up like a bladder whenever 

 they choose. These are their ornaments, which they display to the best 

 advantage before the gentler sex at these love feasts. This they do by blow- 

 ing up these air sacs till they look like two ripe oranges, on each side of 

 the neck, projecting their long black ears right forward, ruffling up all the 

 feathers of the body till they stand out straight, and dropping their wings 

 to the ground like a Turkey cock. Now they look just lovely, as the coy 



1 Bulletin II, Dept. of Agriculture, Report on Bird Migration in the Mississippi Valley, 1888, p. 105. 



