The American Prairie Hen. 



579 



male and piercing the bladders with a pin, after which the bird was unable to call any more. When 

 the season is over the bladders shrink and collapse, so as to be quite concealed under the tufts 

 already spoken of. The food in a state of nature appears to consist chiefly of buds, seeds, and 

 berries. Audubon saw an apple tree cleared of buds in a few hours. 



The Prairie Hen lays ten or twelve eggs, generally in April or May. There is only one brood, 

 unless the nest is destroyed, in which case the hen lays a second litter, but not so many as before. 

 From these facts, and the number of eggs obtained from domesticated pheasants, it is probable that 

 an increased supply could be obtained ; but it is as a table delicacy or a pretty pet that the bird 

 has the best claim to domestication. Audubon writes upon this point as follows : — " The Pinnated 



PRARIE HEN, OR PINNATED GROUSE. 



Grouse is easily tamed and easily kept ; it also breeds in confinement. I have often been 

 surprised that it has not been fairly domesticated. While at Henderson, I purchased sixty that 

 were expressly caught for me within twelve miles of that village, and brought in a bag laid across 

 the back of a horse. I cut the tips of their wings, and turned tiiem loose in a garden and 

 orchard about four acres in extent. Within a week they became tame enough to allow me to 

 approach them without their being frightened. I supplied them with abundance of corn, and they 

 fed besides on vegetables of various kinds. This was in the month of September, and almost all 

 of them were young birds. In the course of the winter they became so gentle as to feed .from the 

 hand of my wife, and walked about the garden like so many tame fowls, mingling occasionally with 

 the domestic poultry. I observed that at night each individual made choice of one of the heaps 

 in which a cabbage had grown, awd that they invariably turned their breasts to the wind, whatever 

 way it happened to blow. When spring returned they strutted, ' tooted,' and fought, as if in the 

 wilds where they had received their birth. Many laid eggs, and a good number of young ones 

 made their appearance ; but the grouse at last proved so destructive to the young vegetables — 



