CHAPTER VII 

 PRAIRIE CHICKENS 



HISTORY, DISTRIBUTION, AND ABUNDANCE 



THE term "prairie chicken" is here used in the same sense as it is used by 

 most sportsmen, namely, as inclusive of both pinnated and sharptail grouse, 

 most sportsmen, namely, as inclusive of both pinnated and sharptail grouse. 



Where differentiation is possible, the separate specific names are used. When 

 the species is in doubt, the inclusive term is used. This is necessary because the 

 information available from old-timers seldom differentiates between species. 



Is the Prairie Chicken "Hopeless?" In every State of the north cen- 

 tral region except Wisconsin, the restoration of the prairie chicken is regarded 

 as a "lost cause." The trend of the evidence to be here presented is to the con- 

 trary. It indicates that chickens respond even more readily than other cyclic 

 species to management measures. 



The conservation movement has no right to discard these magnificent game 

 birds when no real effort, other than ill-enforced closed seasons, has as yet been 

 made in their behalf. 



Original Distribution ; Northward Shift. Kumlien and Hollister 

 (1903) say of the pinnated grouse: 



"The prairie chicken seems to have moved westward with the settlement of 

 the country. In the early forties it was rather rare in southern Wisconsin and at 

 the present time has almost entirely replaced the sharptail." 



Of the sharptail they say: 



"The sharptails seem to be rapidly giving way to the prairie hen (pinnated), 

 a species better adapted for life, in a settled country. Referring back to 1840, we 

 find that this species was the common prairie grouse of southern Wisconsin and 

 at that time was extremely abundant." 



This reliable summary of the northward shift of the two species in southern 

 Wisconsin is based on the recollections of Kumlien's father, trfe ornithologist, 

 Thure Kumlien who settled in Wai worth County in 1834, but did not see any pin- 

 nated grouse until several years afterward. 



Ridgeway, writing in Field and Stream for October 9, 1879, corroborates 

 Kumlien and adds some interesting details concerning the sharptail: 



"In 184045 this species was abundant in southern Wisconsin and northern 

 Illinois as far south as Chicago, always frequenting the timber, which gave it the 

 name of 'burr-oak grouse'." 



11 [ 161 ] 



