THE NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY. 85 



Formerly an abundant resident, but now fast disappearing. 

 They are still occasionally found in the western portion of Cook 

 County, Illinois, and in Lake County, Indiana. Mr. E. W. Nel- 

 son wrote in 1876 :t "Once excessively abundant; now rather 

 scarce within thirty miles of Chicago. Still exists in large num- 

 bers on the larger prairies, but is becoming much less numerous 

 in all the more settled districts. In many places the farmers 

 are in the habit of collecting their eggs by the pailful to use for 

 culinary purposes. Such a drain as this, with the annual 

 slaughter by sportsmen, and the restriction of their breeding 

 grounds by cultivation, is rapidly lessening their numbers except 

 in the remote prairie districts." 



The range of the Prairie Hen may. be said to include the 

 "prairies and open cultivated districts of the Mississippi Valley." 

 Also, while its range is being gradually contracted eastward it 

 is being extended westward. 



Genus PEDKECETES Baird, 1858. 



Pedioecetes phasianellus campestris (Bidgway). Sharp-tailed Grouse. 



Tetrao phasianellus {nee Linnseus) Audubon, Orn. Biog., IV, 1838, 

 569, pi. 382. 



Pediocostes phasianellus Baied, B. N. Amer., 1858, 626 (part). 



Pedioecetes phasianellus var. columhianus Nelson, Bull. Essex Insti- 

 tute, Vol. VIII, 121. 



Pedioecetes columhianus Elliot, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 

 1862, 403. 



PedioccEtes phasianellus campestris RlDGWAT, Proc. Biol. See. Wash- 

 ington, II, April 10, 1884, 93. 



Popular synonyms: Spike-tah. Spbig-tail. Peajbie Chicken. 

 Pin-tail. 



This species is included in the bird fauna of our area on the 

 strength of the note given by Mr. Robert Kennicott in his "Cata- 

 logue of Animals Observed in Cook County, Illinois."* He says : 

 "Not uncommon, formerly." Mr. E. W. Nelson says if "If 

 this species now occurs it is extremely rare. At present it is 

 restricted to the northwestern portion of the state. The last 

 record of its occurrence in this vicinity is furnished by my friend 

 Mr. T. H. Douglas, who informs me that in the fall of 1863 or 

 1864, while two gentlemen were shooting prairie chickens near 

 Waukegan, they found and secured a covey of these birds, 

 numbering fourteen individuals. These had, in all probability, 

 been raised in the immediate vicinity." 



tBirds of Northeastern Illinois, Bull, of the Essex Institute, Vol. VIII, 1876, 121 

 *Trans. Illinois State Agri. Society, Vol. I, 1853-1854, 586. 



