THE PRAIRIE HEN. 147 



is furnished with supplemental wings, each composed of eighteen 

 feathers, five of which are black, and about three inches long ; 

 the rest shorter, also black, streaked laterally with brown, and 

 of unequal lengths ; the head is slightly crested ; over the eye 

 is an elegant semicircular comb of rich orange, which the Bird 

 has the power of raising or relaxing ; under the neck wings are 

 two loose pendulous and wrinkled skins, extending along the 

 sides of the neck for two-thirds of its length, each of which, 

 when inflated, resembles in bulk, color, and surface, a middle- 

 sized orange ; chin cream-colored ; under the eye runs a dark 

 streak of brown ; whole upper parts mottled transversely with 

 black, reddish-brown, and white ; tail short, very much rounded, 

 and of a plain brownish soot color ; throat elegantly mar.ked 

 with touches of reddish-brown, white, and black ; lower pfeirts 

 of the breast and belly pale brown, marked transversely with 

 white ; legs covered to the toes with hairy down of a dirty drab 

 color; feet dull yellow, toes pectinated ; vent whitish; bill brown- 

 ish horn color, eye reddish hazel. The female is considerably 

 less ; of a lighter color, destitute of the neck wings, the naked 

 yellow skin on the neck, the semicircular comb of yellow over 

 the eye. 



LOCATION. 



The Prairie Hen was no doubt formerly widely disseminated 

 over our whole country, more particularly in those portions 

 interspersed with dry, open plains, surrounded by thin shrub- 

 bery or scantily covered with trees. Unlike the Euffed Grouse, 

 this Bird delights in the clear, open Prairie grounds, and will 

 desert those districts entirely that, in the lapse of time, become 

 covered with forests. These Birds are very rare ; in fact, may 

 almost be considered extinct in the Northern and Middle States. 

 "Within a few years, they were quite abundant on some portions 

 of Long Island. They were also to be found in Burlington 

 County, New Jersey, and in some few other places. There are, 

 however, still a few to be found on the Jersey Plains, and every 

 season we hear of some of our sporting acquaintances extermi- 

 nating a small pack. We know of ten braces being killed this 

 season (1848), and about the same number last year, by the 

 same party; and, as usual, in both instances these scarce and 



