240 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



"I have no reason to believe that it occurs at all in 

 northwestern Minnesota or North Dakota." 



In Manitoba they seem more or less to associate with 

 the sharp-tailed grouse, so much so that sometimes birds 

 of both species will be started from before the dog. 

 When winter comes, however, and the sharp-tailed 

 grouse go into the woods, the pinnated grouse stay out 

 on the prairie. 



LESSER PRAIRIE HEN. 



The range of the lesser prairie hen has already been 

 given. 



While riding over the prairie through the western 

 part of the Indian Territory in the month of March, 

 I have more than once driven for hours through flocks 

 of these birds, contentedly feeding on the prairie and 

 wholly disregarding the wagon, which passed close 

 to them. On these occasions we must have seen many 

 thousands of the birds, and it is probable that imme- 

 diately after this the packs broke up and the mating 

 season began. 



The pursuit of this form differs in no respect from 

 that of its slightly larger relative to the North and 

 East. 



The most southern range in Texas of Attwater's 

 prairie hens is given as just north of Fort Brown, near 

 the coast, and it is very abundant south of San Antonio. 



