168 BIRDS 



weeks, and the young follow the mother as soon as hatched. 



The prairie chicken has many natural enemies. Snakes, 

 weasels, minks, coyotes, rats, and crows are among the 

 many which tend to decrease the broods by destroying the 

 eggs and devouring the chicks. What could be a more 

 tempting morsel for the horned owl or a i)rairie falcon? 

 Wet, cold springs retard the nesting, and result frequently 

 in flooding the nests. The prairie chicken usually deserts a 

 disturbed nest, and now too few good nesting sites remain. 

 Fortunately, many states have protected these birds for 

 some years by not allowing any shooting. As a result in 

 many sections this magnificent bird, so beneficial to the 

 farmer, is occurring in something like its former abundance. 

 They are hardy birds, residing the year round in the same 

 locality unless driven to other sections by persecution. 



Their food is principally grain, berries, grasshoppers, 

 beetles, and willow buds. Their value to the farmer is 

 almost as important as that of the bob-white and meadow 

 lark, all of which thrive in cultivated sections, where the 

 agriculturist must realize that the day is not far distant 

 when he must choose between the grasshopper and other 

 pests and these resident game birds, which thrive if they are 

 afforded protection from the gvmner. 



THE LESSER PRAIRIE HEN* 



Extending over the great plains from western and prob- 

 ably southern Texas northward through Oklahoma to Kan- 

 sas is said to be the habitation of the Lesser Prairie Hen, 

 though it is not fully known. It inhabits the fertile prairies. 



