150 lewis' AMERICAN" SPORTSMAN. 



familiar with the habits of these Birds, informs him that last 

 spring he witnessed, for over an hour, a series of battles be- 

 tween a number of these Birds upon a favorite "^ea^, or scratch- 

 ing ground^'' and declares that, after they had all retired, he might 

 have picked up a hatful of feathers which they had torn from 

 one another. 



The nest is formed upon the ground, in a very secret spot 

 upon the open plain, or perhaps at the foot of a small bush. It 

 is rudely constructed with a few leaves and particles of grass, 

 and contains from eight to twelve eggs of a brownish dirt color, 

 and somewhat larger than those of the Tetrao Umbellus. The 

 Prairie Hen sits eighteen or nineteen days. 



The Birds are able to run a very short time after hatching, 

 and the mother alone attends upon them, supplying them with 

 food, calling them around her by a cluck, and nestling them 

 under her wings at nightfall, or when the weather proves un- 

 favorable, very much in the style of the common Barn Hen. 

 "When the young leave the nest the Hen separates from her 

 mate. The Pinnated Grouse is not so retiring and secluded in 

 its disposition as the other variety, and is not very difficult to 

 domesticate even when taken wild, as it soon becomes tame and 

 accustomed to the presence of man. 



Audubon cut the tips of the wings of sixty of these Birds 

 towards the close of the summer, and turned them out into an 

 inclosure, where they remained quite contented the whole winter 

 through, and soon became sufficiently gentle to feed from the 

 hands of his wife. They appeared quite unmindful of their 

 former state of freedom, and conducted themselves very simi- 

 larly to the tame fowls, with which they often mingled on the 

 most friendly footing. In the spring, they " Tooted" and strutted 

 about in the most pompous style imaginable, even as much so 

 as if they were still in their native haunts, and even coupled 

 and hatched many broods. Their pugnacious tempers would 

 not permit them to quail even before the threatening presence 

 of the largest Turkey Cock, and they would not unfrequently 

 take a round or two with the dung-hills of the poultry yard. 

 The Pinnated Grouse, as the other variety, hatch but one brood 

 each season, except when disturbed, as they are frequently, by 

 the crows, hawks, polecats, raccoons, and other animals. When 



