Fig. 14. Prairie Chicken (Tympanuckus . americe**s). Two males contesting for female, the latter with head 

 pressed against the ground. Xote that she has no crest or neck-tufts. Reproduction of a photograph made by the 

 author of Audubon's plate. 



Cupido suggests the wings of the conven- 

 tional cupid, which are here likened to the 

 feather-tufts on the necks of all birds of 

 this genus. For pallidicinctus we have the 

 Latin pallidus,- pale or pallid, and cinctus, 

 encircled, begirdled or begirt, and bestowed 

 upon this species by Ridgway, probably for 

 the reason that in its plumage he saw a 

 pallid girdle of some kind, as expressed in 

 this part of his description of the bird: 

 "Darker bars of back and rump, treble, 

 consisting of a perfectly continuous brown 

 bar enclosed between two narrower black 

 bars; darker bars of sides and flanks .25, 

 or less, wide, bicolored. the broader light - 

 brown bar being enclosed between two 

 narrower dusky ones." (Manual, p. 203). 



In 1S(>8. when I hunted in Illinois, the 

 prairie hens were fairly abundant in that 

 state, and 1 shot them within two miles of 

 the city of Omaha, Nebraska, in Is7',i. 

 (Fig. 14). 



Typical americanus has been described by 

 a great many ornithologists and popular 

 writers; and, as the colors and arrangement 

 of the pattern of the plumage are very 

 variable and complicated, thes^ descrip- 

 tions are, in most instances, quite different. 



As Audubon said of this species, "T.cupido" 1 

 that "The female is considerably smaller, 

 and wants the crest, cervical tufts, and 

 air-bags, but in other respects resembles the 

 male" (Vol. v., p. 105), a statement of 

 which more than half is utterly erroneous, as 

 the female has both crest and tufts, so we 

 need not consider his idea of the bird at all. 

 His long account of this grouse refers to T. 

 americanus and not to T. cupido, as he has it, 

 for it is based on Kentucky specimens, although 

 he collected both species. Audubon, assisted 

 by "several negroes," used to bag dozens of 

 them at night just for the sake of "amuse- 

 ment." (loc. cit., p. 98). 



Wilson also gives us a long account of the 

 "Pinnated Grouse, Tetrao cupido" which 

 he illustrated with a figure of a male, drawn 

 from a specimen taken in the "Barrens of 

 Kentucky." In his day (1810) the bird was 

 common around Oyster Bay, Huntington, 

 Islip, etc., on Long Island and in New Jersey, 

 etc. He also says of this bird which is 

 the present Heath Hen (T. cupido} of Martha's 

 Vineyard, Mass. "The female is consider- 

 ably less; of a lighter color, destitute of the 

 neck wings, the naked, yellow skin on the 

 neck, and the semi-circular comb of yellow 



