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IOWA ORNITHOLOGIST. 



is a feature that would distin- 

 guish it from all membevs of the 

 Grouse family. 



The Prairie Heu is a bird that 

 inhabits plains and open country, 

 high and dry ground free from 

 trees to a great extent, pitching 

 only upon those tracts whose 

 features and productions corres- 

 pond with its modes of life. 



Their predilections for such 

 situations will be best accounted 

 for by considering the following 

 circumstances. First: their mode 

 of flight is generally direct and 

 laborious, ill calculated for a 

 thick forest or high trees, that 

 require angular evolutions of the 

 wing and sharp turning. Sec- 

 ondly: their known dislike to 

 marshes or places that are natu- 

 rally wet, although at the pres- 

 ent time in this state they are 

 forced to some extent to inhabit 

 low and marshy land, as that is 

 about all that there is left for 

 them to use as a breeding ground 

 where suitable cover can be 

 found. 



That they are of great value to 

 the farmer as a destro3^er of 

 countless varieties of insects can- 

 not be doubted for an instant. 

 Going back to the time before 

 this i^rairie country was under 

 cultivation, and when the Prai- 

 rie Hen was found here in great 

 numbers, whose living must of 

 necessity been insectivorous, and 

 not granivorous at that time. 



Tliat the Prairie Hen now lives 

 to a large extent on grain I will 

 not deny, for as his dominion has 

 been encroached upon by civilized 

 people, he in order to live, has 

 had to take up with what he 

 could find, or go west. It has 

 been claimed that the Praicie Hen 

 could not be domesticated but I 

 think I can safely say at the pres- 

 ent time, that the Prairie Hen 

 under certain conditions can be 

 readily tamed. 



I have myself on different occa- 

 sions had in my possession live 

 hens that became readily tame. 

 Hundreds of instances can be 

 readily cited of Prairie Hens mix- 

 ing with domestic poultry in se- 

 vere weather, and approaching 

 the farm house or barn, seeking 

 protection and food. One of the 

 greatest drawbacks the Prairie 

 Hen has to contend with at the 

 present time, is a nesting place; 

 since our state has become so 

 thickly settled, and all available 

 land has come into use, either for 

 cultivation or pasturage; also the 

 habit of farmers to burn off the 

 old grass from all the sloughs, 

 ditches and swamps, about the 

 time the first clutch of eggs are 

 laid, has been, and is the means 

 of destroying more birds than all 

 the guns in the state. 



I claim the gun is not the most 

 destructive foe the Prairie Hen 

 has to contend with, although it 

 is the one all the blame is laid to. 



