372



A Prairie Chicken.



The photographs show him at different ages. He died Sept.

20th, but as I was absent from home no autopsy was made.


I eventually lost my other pair of old birds, which might

have been saved if a large portable pen had been kept for them and

shifted frequently to new ground.


Dr. George W. Field, of the Massachusetts State Game Com¬

mission, last year raised one Heath Hen (Tympanuclius cUpido ) from

eggs collected wild on Martha’s Vineyard Isle. Out of four which

he hatched, one died, two escaped and one is still alive.


Mr. Wallace Evans, of Oak Park, Illinois, kept some Prairie

chickens in a yard which he writes me was somewhat too small.

He collected, however, a number of eggs which hatched well, the

chicks being strong and healthy. They remained with the hen until

six or eight weeks old when they 11 suddenly and mysteriously dis¬

appeared.”


This is all I can gather as to the behaviour of Prairie chickens

in captivity. It is meagre enough and yet I think something might

be done, with care, patience, ground free from amoeboid infection,

and a goodly supply of money.


Mr. Evans might be able to get a few pairs for anyone in

England who was interested, but the experiment would hardly be

worth while unless carried out on a considerable scale.


It might be of interest to add the autopsy report for the pair

of birds which produced my eggs. I quote it verbatim from Dr.

Tyzzer’s letter of June 21, 1912 : —


Adult female .—‘ There is no marked emaciation and nothing

of note externally. The peritoneal cavity contains thin reddish

brown fluid. One coeca presents several lesions measuring from 0’2

to 0 7 cms. in diameter, of grayish yellow colour, over which the

mucous membrane appears to be intact except over the largest

lesion, where the surface is eroded. These lesions are distributed

over about 6 cms. of the blind extremity of the coeca. The liver is

diseased throughout. The lesions are sharply defined with opaque

slightly elevated edges marked with bright red, sometimes scattered

and sometimes as a zone within the peripheral opaque zone. The

surface within is dull brown, slightly grayer color than the unin¬

volved liver. The fibrinous exudate is adherent to the surface of the



