232 THREE WESTERN BIRD GROUPS 



singer. The birds were distant about a mile, but their per- 

 vasive, resonant, conch-like notes, came distinctly to the 

 ear through the still, clear air. 



After finding the place on the prairie where the birds 

 assembled, I erected there the umbrella blind, putting fresh- 

 leaved willow branches about and over it. The next day the 

 weather proved unfavorable for my purpose, but the morn- 

 ing of May 6, was all one could ask for. I arose at four 

 o 'clock ; there was no hint of coming day, but a great red 

 moon hung over the sand-hills just long enough to guide me 

 over the mile and a half to the blind. The mercury regis- 

 tered 25 ; the grass was crisp with frost, the air sparkling 

 and deliciously stimulating. A Burrowing Owl cackled as I 

 passed his dwelling and from the dark the mellow flute-song 

 of the Western Meadowlark greeted the still unseen day. 



A prairie is not overburdened with landmarks at night, 

 and but for the now faint light of the disappearing moon, I 

 should have been unable to find my blind without more 

 direct assistance from the sun. While looking for it I nearly 

 stepped upon a Prairie Hen who, if he was as badly scared 

 as I was, is still talking of the experience. Finally, I found 

 the little structure which seemed singuarly homelike, and, 

 no light still paling the east, I crawled within it, prepared 

 to spend a chilly hour while waiting for the curtain to rise, 

 but I had not unslung my camera when, from almost within 

 arm's length, a positively blood-curdling boom-ah-boom re- 

 sounded over the prairie. The performance had begun. 



At short range the bird's note suggested the mellow, 

 resonant tone of a kettledrum, and when bird after bird, all 

 still unseen, uttered its truly startling call, the very earth 

 echoed with a continuous roar. Soon one could see as well 

 as hear, and a remarkable sight it was that presented itself. 

 Nineteen cock Prairie Hens were booming, strutting or 

 fighting within one hundred yards of my blind, the nearest 

 being less than half this distance. 



As a rule each bird had its own stand separated by about 



