

PINNATED GROUSE 243 



very plentiful, and we have sections in Minnesota where 

 the pinnated grouse are just as thick as they ever were. 



"The State game warden of Manitoba states that 

 their prairie chickens are not disappearing at all; in 

 fact, they are increasing under rigid protection and 

 stopping the sale. That is only across an imaginary 

 line of Minnesota and Dakota, where these birds are 

 plentiful, but in the southern part of our State, where 

 dairying has taken the place of grain-raising, there are 

 hardly any of the birds left. The sharp-tailed grouse, 

 however, are different, as they are found in the brush 

 country in great numbers where farms are opened up. 



"A very pleasing thing happened to me last March. 

 I was up in the northern part of the State, and in a 

 drive of three hours I came across a stretch of land that 

 had been cleared of jack pine. The clearing was several 

 miles in extent, but it was surrounded by jack pine. 

 The snow at the time was over two feet deep. The 

 land last year was cultivated, some corn grown on it 

 and some wheat and other coarse grain. In that clear- 

 ing, the man with me and I counted over two hundred 

 pinnated grouse. They appeared to have wintered 

 finely and seemed in good condition." 



When we reach Nebraska, we approach the limit of 

 the pinnated grouse and enter the region of the sharp- 

 tail just as we do in Minnesota. Both species were 

 formerly abundant in Nebraska, but were so overshot 

 by thoughtless gunners and by market shooters that 

 they became rare. Mr. G. L. Carter, then chief warden 



