PINNATED GROUSE 2IQ 



stump, and contained either twelve or thirteen eggs. 

 The date, he thought, was about June 10. This seemed 

 late, but I have a set of six eggs taken on the Vineyard 

 July 24, 1885, and on July 19, 1890, I met a blueberry 

 picker who only the day before had started a brood of 

 six young, less than half grown. These facts prove 

 that this bird is habitually a late breeder. 



"The farmers about Tisbury say that in spring the 

 male heath hen makes a booming or tooting noise. 

 This, according to their descriptions, must resemble 

 the love notes of the western pinnated grouse. About 

 sunrise, on warm, still mornings in May, several birds 

 may be sometimes heard at once, apparently answer- 

 ing one another. 



"During my stay at Martha's Vineyard, I obtained 

 as many estimates as possible of the number of heath 

 hens which are believed to exist there at the present 

 time. My most trustworthy informants were, credit- 

 ably, averse to what was apparently mere idle guessing ; 

 but when I questioned them, first as to the extent of 

 the region over which the birds ranged, and next as to 

 how many on the average could be found in a square 

 mile within this region, they answered readily enough, 

 and even with some positiveness. As already stated, 

 the total present range of the heath hen covers about 

 forty square miles. The estimates of the average 

 number of birds per mile varied from three to five, 

 giving from 120 to 200 birds for the total number. 

 These estimates, it should be stated, relate to the num- 

 ber of birds believed to have been left over from last 



