.l\''en'ell, The Prairie Hen. 43 



THE PRAIRIE HEN — (Tympanuchus americanus ). 



BY WILMON NEWELL. 



THIS beautiful game bird is a native of the Mississippi valley from Louisiana 

 to Minnesota, and from Wisconsin on the east to New Mexico and Nevada 

 upon the west, being most abundant in the western and north-western portions 

 of this area. This bird is well known to naturalists and ornithologists and there 

 are very few collections that do not contain one or more specimens. For this 

 reason a description of the bird is here unnecessary. 



The Prairie Hen is a common resident throughoiTt the state of Iowa, but is 

 most abundant along the northern and western borders. Fifteen years ago the 

 Prairie Chickens (commonly so-called) were exceedingly abundant in Sioiix 

 county, but for several years sportsmen from Minneapolis and Chicago made 

 this locality their headquarters. The consequences were that the chickens suf- 

 fered great slaughter and were very nearly exterminated. Of course this 

 scarcity soon disposed of the city sportsmen and their machine guns. The 

 chickens have suffered very little from the local nimrods and have of late years 

 steadily increased. At present (making a rough estimate) we have an average 

 of from four to eight chickens per square mile. Of course I do not say that you 

 will find chickens upon every section, for the habits of the bird would knock 

 this theory out of the box. 



During the winter the chickens gather in flocks of from twenty to seventy- 

 five, each flock ranging over an area of from four to six square miles. They are 

 exceedingly wary during the winter and it is impossible to get within gun-range 

 of them. Occasionally a single bird will become separated from the flock, and 

 in such cases the bird may sometimes be flushed from the grass or stubble and 

 thus be secured. Throughout the winter they feed upon corn, wheat and such 

 chance grains as they may find. The cornfields however are their main reliance. 

 At this season they roost in the bunehss of long slough grass or in the snow in 

 the immediate vicinity. Each bird will hollow out for himself a hole in the 

 snow, merely large enough and deep enough to nicely protect him from the 

 wind. Here he stays over night as snug and warm as you please. It would 

 seem fha^t the drifting snow would cover and suffocate them but I have never 

 known of such a case, probably because the roosting places selected are compar- 

 atively open and there is very little to hold the snow. At this season of the year 

 the Prairie Chickens suffer very little from their natural enemies, but many are 

 killed by flying against telegraph wires and barbed- wire fences dui-ing heavy 

 snow storms or high winds. The Prairie Chickens remain in flocks until the 

 breeding season and then separate. As soon as spring opens the continuous 

 "Eom-Bom-Boo-o" of the roosters and the cackle of the hens can be heard any 

 morning in the neighborhood of an upland meadow, and to the naturalist and 

 lover of Nature it is music indeed. 



The Prairie Hen nests in the tall slough grass as a riile, but I have often 

 found nests in tall stubble. Occasionally a nest is found in an exposed position, 

 where there is little or no grass. Before the north-western part of the state was 



