43 6 THE PRAIRIE HEN. 



chest, brownish-tinged and spotted rather than barred. Measurements of six 

 Monroeville Prairie specimens in O. S. U., museum. Two males : length 18.25 

 (463.6) ; wing 9.25 (235.) ; tail 3.85 (97.8) ; bill from nostril .52 (13.2) ; neck- 

 tufts, 3.30 (83.8). Four females: length, 17.15 (435-6); wing, 8.32 (211.3); 

 tail 3.50 (88.9) ; bill from nostril .49 (12.5) ; neck-tufts 1.65 (41.9). 



Recognition Marks. Crow size ; general barred appearance ; elongated, 

 erectile tufts on side of neck; distensible air-sacs distinctive. 



Nest, on the ground in open fields or in the edges of swamps, lined with 

 grasses and feathers. Eggs, 8-15, usually about a dozen, dull buffy-drab or olive, 

 usually unmarked but sometimes speckled with brown. Av. size, 1.70x1.27 

 (43.2x32.3). 



General Range. Prairies of the Mississippi Valley ; south to Louisiana 

 and Texas, east to Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Ontario, west through 

 eastern portions of North Dakota, Indian Territory and intervening states, north 

 to Manitoba ; general tendency to extension of range westward, and contraction 

 eastward ; migration north and south in Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri. 



Range in Ohio. Formerly not uncommon in northwestern, rare in cen- 

 tral Ohio. Now probably extinct. 



THE life history of the Prairie Hen of Ohio will probably never be writ- 

 ten ; certainly not unless some one is at great pains to interview the older hunters 

 of the passing generation, and succeeds in piecing together scraps of informa- 

 tion which have lain long dormant in memory. Having become quite extinct 

 within twenty years, the bird was confined to a few restricted localities in the 

 north-central and north-western parts of the state for as many more, and it has 

 been a half century since it was common even in those regions. So far as 

 known the last survivors were seen during the early Eighties in Erie and Huron 

 Counties. The last record for Franklin County is that given by Dr. J. M. 

 Wheat on ; November 16, 1878. 



It is idle at this late date to bewail the loss of this noble game-bird. Its 

 ways were to a certain extent incompatible with those of civilization. Experi- 

 ence has amply proven that the rural portion of a community will not stand 

 the sole burden of support of a grain-eating bird, which genteel sportsmen 

 from the city are allowed to slaughter at periodical seasons, and there is an 

 end of discussion. Apparently the only alternative lies in imported birds of 

 various sorts (the tamer the better), and in private game-preserves. 



Fortunately the species under consideration has been fully studied in the 

 prairie states further west, and the brief sketch which follows is based chiefly 

 on observations in Illinois and Iowa. 



During the first days of April a mellow rolling boom comes over the 

 prairies in the early morning or late afternoon hours. If the birds are 

 plentiful the soft ook-ah-oom-boo-hoo-oo-oo may sound from several scratch- 

 ing-grounds or "walks" at once. In the corner of some large meadow or on 

 some prairie knoll a company of twenty or thirty cocks and hens are gathered, 

 the former bustling and bursting with excitement, the latter affecting titter 

 indifference. 



