Prairie Chickens 173 



except that they show no low between 1915 and 1919. Such a low may, how- 

 ever, -have occurred. 



Several fragments of information of earlier date than the 1912 "comeback" 

 likewise parallel the cycle. W. H. Berst told me that the chickens disappeared all 

 at once from Turkey Prairie, Kosciusko County, about 1880. This marked a low 

 in the northern cycle. 



Cockrum, already quoted, says Indiana chickens were quite common up to the 

 early 70s. The latest work of the University of Minnesota indicates a general low 

 in the early 70s. 



One must conclude from all this that since 1912 Indiana chickens show 

 cyclic behavior, and that the cycle may run farther back in that State. 



John A. Gude, a dog trainer, told me of a high in Crawford County, Illinois, 

 near the Indiana line, about 1920. This corroborates the other Indiana evidence 

 of a high between 1919 and 1925. 



MOVEMENTS 



Former Winter Migrations: Relation to Sex. That at least a part 

 of the pinnated grouse populations of former days performed more or less regular 

 annual migrations admits of no doubt. We have already cited the influx of winter 

 birds noted by Bogardus in central Illinois in 1874. 



Widmann says of Missouri: 



"Though as a rule non-migratory, the prairie hen of northern Iowa and 

 Minnesota has been known to migrate (some say females only) southward into 

 and through Missouri in November and December, returning ... in March. 

 Large flocks of such transients were noticed formerly." 



W. W. Cook of the Biological Survey in his "Bird Migration in the Missis- 

 sippi Valley (1888) says: 



"In November and December large flocks of Prairie Chickens come from 

 northern Iowa and southern Minnesota, to settle in northern Missouri and south- 

 ern Iowa. This migration varies in bulk with the severity of the winter." 



John Schmoker, of Fountain City, Buffalo County, Wisconsin, who has lived 

 in the Trempealeau region since 1864, told me that during his boyhood every 

 severe winter brought a heavy influx of chickens (pinnated) from the Minnesota 

 prairies, over and above the abundant breeding population. Whether he actually 

 saw the incoming flights was not determined. 



W. W. Cook, of Madison, Wisconsin, says that North Dakota was almost 

 devoid of chickens all winter in early days, and that the remaining birds were 

 males. He has personally seen migratory flights while mallard shooting on Devil's 

 Lake, South Dakota, in both fall and spring. 



In corroboration of the Widmann and Cook observations on sex, the late 

 Carlos Avery told me that he trapped chickens for restocking during several win- 

 ters around 1919 in Roselle and Norman Counties, Minnesota. He remembers 



