THE OOLOGIST. 



303 



Tiead whistled and on being answered 

 by the others it joined them on the 

 mud. These were by far the tamest 

 and most unsuspecting of all the birds 

 seen about the two lakes. August 2'Jth 

 saw a flock out on the flats. September 

 4th there was only one to be seen. 



Totanus solitariits. Solitary Sand- 

 piper. Quite plentiful at both lakes. 

 From twenty to thirty could be seen at 

 almost any time. 



Bartramia longicauda. Bar tram ian 

 Sandpiper. — Although these were not 

 seen with the other birds on the flats, 

 I mention them as they could always 

 be seen sparingly in the pasture fields 

 about Loch Raven. 



Actites macularia. Spotted Sand- 

 piper. — These birds were very scarce 

 about the lakes: they were more plen- 

 tiful along the banks of the streams. 



Aegialites vocifera. Killdeer. — Very 

 pleutiful about both lakes, but especial- 

 ly Lake Roland, where there was a 

 much larger range of mud flats. On 

 August 19th while sitting on the 

 bank, I counted fifty-two in sight at 

 one time on a piece of mud about three 

 acres in extent. 



Aegialitis semipalmala. Semipal- 

 mated Plover. — August 29th I saw 

 a.bout a dozen of these little "Ring- 

 necks'' feeding on the fiats with the 

 •other birds. 



Pandion halicetus carolinensis. Amer- 

 ican Osprey. — On several occasions I 

 saw a pair about Loch Raven. 



Ceryle alcyon. Belted Kingfisher. — A 

 few seen about both lakes. 



Wm. H. Fishkk, 

 Baltimore, Md. 



The Game Bird of the Prairie. 



The birds of this section, Nebraska, 

 are .to a certain extent a connecting 

 link between those of the east and those 

 of the extreme west. In many instan- 

 ces we find both the eastern and the 

 western variety of the same bird. Yet 



this central section has a few birds pe- 

 culiar to itself. Prominent among these 

 is the Prairie Hen. 



In this article I shall not use scientific 

 terms but shall confine myself to homely 

 expressions and comparisons, I think I 

 can give a better general idea of my sub- 

 ject in this way than any other. No 

 doubt a large number of the l'eaders of 

 the " Oologist " are scientists and per- 

 fectly familiar with Latin terms and 

 technical phrases. Yet it is reasonable 

 to suppose that many of the readers are 

 more familiar with our birds themselves 

 then with ornithology as a science. 

 Have you ever heard that peculiar 

 sound called the " booming " of Prairie 

 Chickens; probably not. In order to 

 hear it you must be in the country and 

 get up before sunrise some morning 

 about the first of May, this is the ma- 

 ting season. The birds congregate in 

 flocks of forty or fifty birds each and 

 seek some grassy ridge somewhat apart 

 from man, to do their love making. 

 The long drawn booming sound is made 

 by the males. They have quite a bel- 

 lows of loose skin on the neck which 

 they puff up, and tufts of feathers on 

 the back of the head or neck. They 

 erect these " horns," lower the wings 

 slightly spread the tail and strut about 

 somewhat in the manner of a Turkey 

 Gobbler,— giving words to their love- 

 song, while the females keep time with 

 their ka-kar-ka-ka-kar-r-r. A friend 

 of mine, an old Englishman, once told 

 me that the males were each trying to 

 say "Pm-bigger-'n-n-n-you " and that 

 their wives were laughing at the attempt. 

 To sound like their booming, this big- 

 ger-'n-n-n-you must be read slowly and 

 in a nasal tone, then it is a very good 

 counterfeit. If you approach them 

 openly, they take wing two or three at 

 a time, before you get in shot gun range 

 of them. What a whir of wings! For 

 the sake of argument we will assume 

 that you bag a bird or two. Let us 

 take a look at them. They are about 



