■y^ 





>^ 



'i^l 



1^ 



^.Mft^^^5 



■'"> 

 jj- 



<\ 



N 



CHAPTER IX. 



PINNATED GROUSE, OR PRAIRIE HEN. TETRAO CUPIDO. 



" Hurrah for the Prairie ! No blight on its breeze, 

 No mist from the mountains, no shadow from trees." 



DESCRIPTION. 



This species of Grouse is very different in many respects 

 from the last-mentioned variety. Its appearance, habits, flesh, 

 are all quite dissimilar, and we regret never having had very 

 full opportunities for studying these interesting Birds in their 

 natural haunts, the rich Prairies of the far West. However, we, 

 as many others, have this pleasure still in anticipation, and in 

 the mean time will endeavor to lay before our sporting friends 

 all the information upon this head that we have culled from 

 reading and conversing with those who have been in the habit 

 of hunting these Birds for years past; and trust, at all events, 

 that we shall succeed in making this chapter as interesting as 

 some others that we have compiled for the benefit of Sportsmen. 



Wilson thus describes this Bird. The Pinnated Grouse is 

 nineteen inches long, twenty-seven inches in extent, and when 

 in good order weighs about three pounds and a half; the neck 



