442 XOUTIl AMKItlCAN BlUDS. 



increasiiifT as the country is settled and the land cnltivated with grain. 

 Even in Illinois, where tlu'ro has heen ii large increase of population during 

 the i)ast ten years, these liirds are known to have Iieconie nnieh more 

 numerous. It is, however, jirohalde that they will again he driven irom 

 this region when the population heeomes (juite dense. Mr. Allen met 

 with this species in .several point.s in Kansas and in Colorado, where they 

 had either Just made tiieir ai>i>carance, or where they had recently heen 

 noticed, and were oltserved to he on tlu; increase. The small remnants 

 lei't in Massachusetts are prolecteil hy law, which may preserve them a few 

 years h)nger; and in Illinois and other Western States stringent ])rovisions 

 .seek to ])revent their wanton destruction. In Michigan, according to Mr. 

 1). i). Hughes, this (h'ouse is common in the two S(mthern tiers of counties, 

 hut is rarely met with in that State farther north, — an ahsence attrihutahle to 

 the want of open country and suital)le food, as west of Lake Michigan it is 

 I'ound in great ahundance much farther nortli. In the more .southern portion 

 of the State it is already very rare, and in localities com]iletely c.xternunated. 



Dr. Woodhouse lound this bird quite aliundant througliout the Indian 

 Territory; more numerou.s, however, in the vicinity of .settlements. During 

 the tall of 18-49, as he was passing down the Arkansas IJiver, along the road 

 leading from Kort (iihson to Fort Smith, these; birds were in large Hocks, 

 feeding among the oaks upon the acorns; hundreds were to be seen at the 

 same time. It was also very common throughout Eastern Te.xas. 



Mr. J)resser found the Tinnated (ii'ouse very common in travelling from 

 Brownsville to Victoria, after leaving the chaparral and entering the jmiirie 

 country. Throughout the whole of the jtrairie country of Texas it is 

 abundant. 



They were found by Mr. Audubon esi)ecially abundant in the States of 

 Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, where his ol i.servations date back 

 more than half a cent\ny, and when the country was com])arativcly unset- 

 tled. It was there, he states, in what was then known as the Uarrens of 

 Kentucky, that before sunrise, or at the clo.se of the day, he " heard its curi- 

 ous boomings, witiu^ssed its ol)Stinate battles, watched it during the progress 

 of its courtshi]is, noted its nest and eggs, and foUowed its young until, fully 

 grown, they betook themselves to winter (juarters." 



"When he first removed to Kentucky the Pinnated (Irouso were so plen- 

 tiful, and went licld in such low estimation, that no hunter deigned to shoot 

 them. They were, moreovei', looked ui)on with ill-favor by the inhabitants 

 on account of the mischief they connnitted among the fruit-trees of the or- 

 chards during winter, when they fed \\])(ni the buds, or in the spring, when they 

 consumed the grain in tlie fields. In those days, in the winter, this CSrouse 

 woidd enter the farn)-yard and fe(!(l among the ])oultry, Avonld even alight on 

 the hous(vto])S or walk in the streets of the villages. On one occasion he 

 caught several alive in a stable at Henderson, where they had followed some 

 Wild Turkeys. Twenty-five years later, ISIr. Audubon adds, in the same coun- 



