The Iowa Ornithologist. 



Vol. II. 



Salem, Iowa, October, 1896. 



No. 4-. 



The Prairie Hen (Tympanu. 

 chus americanus.) 



BY A. I. JOHNSON, DES MOINES. 



Paper read before the First Congress 

 of I. O. A. 



IT gives me great pleasure to be 

 able to say, that there is in 

 this fair state of Iowa an associ- 

 ation of Ornithologists, an associ- 

 ation who will be able individ- 

 ually and collectively, to prepare 

 data, and furnish facts relative 

 to our birds which will be a last- 

 ing monument of information to 

 the coming generation; and when 

 you take into consideration the 

 rapidity that our birds are be- 

 coming extinct, the information 

 that is furnished by so reliable a 

 body as the Iowa association is 

 composed of, you can readily see 

 the importance and benefit aris- 

 ing from such an association. 

 That there is in the great state of 

 Iowa, a bird that was here when 

 the first settler crossed the great 

 Mississippi; and one I can safely 

 say has had no rest from that 

 to the present time; one that has 

 furnished many a hungry man 

 with a good meal, if not being 

 actually the means of saving his 

 life, the greatest bird that inhab- 

 its this fair state; one that has no 

 fear of our wintry blasts and has 



not as yet been conquered by any- 

 thing except man, his cruelest 

 foe, who persecute him summer 

 and winter, day and night; with 

 dog and gun in summer and all 

 manner of traps in winter, when 

 instead of foes they sadly need 

 friends, our loyal legal Prairie 

 Hen (TympanucliLis americanus). 



To enter into a scientific de- 

 scription of this bird I hardly 

 think it necessary, as you are all 

 familiar with its general charac- 

 teristics. 



I will simply state that it be- 

 longs to the order Gallinge and 

 Genus Tympanuchus, and is 

 found now principally west of 

 the great Mississippi, to the 

 Rocky Mountains. 



This grand bird was formerly 

 found as far east as the lower 

 New England states, and from 

 there west in certain localities, in 

 about every state. 



It has been claimed by some, 

 that the Prairie Hen of the eas- 

 tern states (or Heath Hen as it 

 was then called) is a different 

 bird than the Prairie Hen of the 

 west, but I think that climate, 

 food and a variety of other things 

 is the main cause of all the chan- 

 ges to be found in size and color. 

 All the other characteristics are 

 the same, the call of tlie male 

 bird, or bumming noise it makes 



