154: BIRD LIFE IN ENGLAND. 



dinner of the same, and while doing so it occurred to me 

 that ' John Bull ' could, if he chose, soon have of his own 

 raising hundreds of thousands of these useful birds to shoot 

 at and to eat. There are thousands of square miles in Great 

 Britain where these birds would do well; in fact, I believe 

 that they would multiply much faster either in England, 

 Ireland, or Scotland than they do here. They are very 

 hardy, and not at all destructive to field crops. The hens 

 commence laying about the middle of April, hatching in 

 June. They produce at each sitting from twelve to thirty 

 young; I believe I have seen a greater number than this 

 in one covey. The average weight of prairie chicken is 

 about 5 lb., with a slight increase in the male. From now 

 until April they can be secured alive in traps in great num- 

 bers, and I believe that they can be delivered alive and in 

 good condition in any part of Great Britain at a cost not 

 exceeding 10s. each. Then, why not have these 'Yankee 

 chickens ' of the West, in countless numbers on the downs, 

 on the moorlands, and in the evergreen forests of Merry Old 

 England ? If twenty or more gentlemen, owning estates in 

 different parts of England, and an equal number owning 

 estates in Ireland and Scotland, would subscribe for two 

 thousand or three thousand of these chickens, to be divided 

 equally among them, they would confer a great benefit on 

 the people of Great Britain, for their action would in time 

 add an important element of supply to the tables of both 

 rich and poor. Two thousand or more birds can be caged 

 and sent in one lot, and, by having a proper person in charge 

 of them, very few of them would die during the passage 

 from the West to England. 



" Import two thousand live and healthy prairie chickens 

 into England, Ireland, and Scotland; let them loose in 

 grounds 'favourable to their existence, and they will produce 

 more of their kind in seven years than there are at present 

 inhabitants of Great Britain. Should any person reading 

 this desire any information that I can give, or should any 



