492 THE PINNATED a HOUSE. 



of brushwood, pines and shrub-oaks being the most favored shelter. Like the greater part of 

 the group, the males "play*' at the breeding season, ruffling their feathers, erecting their 

 neck-tufts, swelling ou1 their wattles, and uttering their strange love-cries. At this time the 

 Pinnated Grouse is particularly remarkable Cor the large size and bright orange color of the 

 naked sacculated appendages which hang at each side of the neck, and which can be idled 

 with air until they are nearly of the same size and color as a Seville orange, or can be per- 

 mitted to hang loosely along the neck. The males are great lighters on these occasions, and 

 dash fiercely against each other, though to all appearance these combats are more notable for 

 display than for effect, little or no damage seeming to be done or suffered by either party. 



Mr. Webber gives the following interesting account of some of the habits of this species : — 



" The most extraordinary phenomenon produced by the necessities of the climate, and as 

 a protection against the terrible winds which sweep over that apparently illimitable beach at 

 the approach of winter, consists in the assembling of these birds, from a distance of many 

 miles around, to roost upon the same spot, something after the manner of the wild pigeon. 

 This fact seems also to have escaped M. Audubon's notice. 



" At the opening of winter, a spot is selected on the open prairies, in the upper part of 

 the Missouri country, which is more sheltered than the surrounding regions, by the character 

 of the ground, from the biting force of the northeast winds. Here the prairie-hens begin to 

 assemble early in the evening; and by the time dusk comes, an immense number are collected. 

 They approach the scene in small Hocks, in a leisurely manner, by short flights. They approach 

 the place of gathering silently, with nothing of that whirr of wings for which they are noted 

 when they are suddenly put up, but they make ample amends when they arrive ; as in the 

 pigeon-roost, there is a continued roar, caused by the restless shifting of the birds and sounds 

 of impatient struggle emitted by them, which can be heard distinctly for several miles. The 

 numbers collected are incalculably immense, since the space covered sometimes extends for 

 over a mile in length, with a breadth determined by the character of the ground. 



"This is a most astonishing scene when approached in the early part of the night on 

 horseback ; the hubbub is strangely discordant and overwhelmingly deafening. They will 

 permit themselves to be killed in great numbers, with sticks or any convenient weapon, without 

 the necessity of using guns. They, however, when frequently disturbed in the first of the 

 season, will easily change their roosting-place ; and when the heavy snows have fallen, by 

 melting which by the heat of their bodies, and by trampling it down, they have formed a sort 

 of sheltered yard, the outside walls of which defend them against the winds, they are not 

 easily driven away by any degree of persecution. Indeed, at this time they become so emaciated 

 as to afford but little inducement to any human persecutors, by whom they are seldom troubled, 

 indeed, on account of the remoteness of these locations ; from foxes, wolves, hawks, and owls, 

 etc., their natural enemies, they have, of course, to expect no mercy at any time. 



"The noise of their restless duckings, flutterings, and shi flings, begins to subside a few 

 hours after dark. The birds have now arranged themselves for the night, nestled as close as 

 they can be wedged, every bird with his breast turned to the quarter in which the wund may 

 be prevailing. This scene is one of the most curious that can be imagined, especially when 

 they have the moonlight on the snow to contrast with their dark backs. At this time they 

 may be killed by cart-loads, as only those in the immediate neighborhood of the aggressors are 

 disturbed apparently. They rise to the height of a few feet with a stupefied and aimless flut- 

 tering, and plunge into the snow within a short distance, where they are easily taken by the 

 hand. In these helpless conditions such immense numbers are destroyed, that the family would 

 be in danger of rapid extermination but that the fecundity of the survivors nearly keeps pace 

 with the many fatalities to which they are liable. 



" These birds are distributed over an immense northern territory: and though they are 

 everywhere in the more sheltered regions found to exhibit the propensity to collect in numbers 

 greater or smaller, during the extreme cold weather, in low spots where they will have some 

 shelter from the accidental peculiarities of the locality, yet nowhere else except just upon 

 these wide plains are they to lie found in such astonishing congregations as we have here 



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