2l6 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



a few were said to occur on the barren plains which 

 cover portions of Ocean and Burlington counties in 

 New Jersey. This is a part of the pine barren region, 

 an elevated, dry tract covered with dwarf pines, which 

 average not more than a foot and a half in height. 

 Turnbull, in his "Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania/' 

 states that in 1869 a few survived in Monroe and 

 Northampton counties in that State. 



The heath hen is very similar to the prairie hen, but 

 slightly smaller. The tufts of pointed neck feathers 

 are shorter and, as already said, the bird has slight 

 points of difference in color. Though called a wood- 

 land bird, it is much in the open or in the thick, 

 low scrub oak and pines which cover an area of 

 forty miles square. There are thought to be not more 

 than 150 or 200 of these birds left alive, and they 

 are therefore more nearly extinct than the buffalo. 

 They are already protected by law and should be still 

 more strongly protected by public opinion of the resi- 

 dents of Martha's Vineyard, who ought to feel proud 

 of this bird and to do everything in their power to 

 preserve it. 



Not much had been written about the heath hen on 

 Martha's Vineyard until the year 1885, when Mr. 

 William Brewster visited the island for the special 

 purpose of studying the bird. He reported the re- 

 sults of this visit in the Auk, and in 1890 repeated the 

 trip and gained additional information, which was 

 printed in Forest and Stream. He said : 



"Throughout Martha's Vineyard, the heath hen 



