10 GROUSE AND WILD TURKEYS OF UNITED STATES. 



good qualities and as proper efforts for its reintroduction into parts 

 of its former range will almost certainly be successful, it is hoped 

 that the undertaking will nof long be delayed. It is unquestionable 

 that the presence of this bird will add appreciably to the value of any 

 farm. 



THE FBAIBIE HEN. 



(Tympanuchus americanus.) 



The prairie hen, or ' prairie chicken,' inhabits the western prairies 

 from Manitoba to southern Texas and Louisiana and from Ohio to 

 Nebraska. The birds of southern Texas and Louisiana " are smaller 

 and darker than the common bird. This big grouse, resembling a 

 brownish-gray hen, adds animation to the western prairies and is as 

 characteristic of them as the mockingbird is of the South. In the 

 miptial season the birds assemble every morning at daybreak on little 

 hillocks on the plains, and the cocks strut about with wings drooping, 

 tail spread, and the large orange-colored sacs on the sides of the neck 

 fully inflated. At intervals they lower their heads and emit a singu- 

 lar booming love note that can be heard more than a mile, and is one 

 of the most striking bird notes in the general spring chorus. The 

 rivalry of the males at these gatherings often leads to fierce fights. 

 Finally all find partners, separate into pairs, and make nests in 

 grass-lined depressions among standing grass or similar shelter, 

 where about a dozen eggs are laid to a clutch. Generally only one 

 brood is raised in a season. The young, like those of other gallina- 

 ceous birds, leave the nest as soon as they are hatched and run about 

 with the hen in search of food. In summer prairie hens roost on the 

 ground in a family covey, as does the bobwhite, but in winter, in 

 many sections, they roost in trees. In the fall several coveys congre- 

 gate in a pack, after the fashion of ptarmigans and crested quail. 

 Prof. F. E. L. Beal informs the writer that at Ames, Iowa, during 

 the early eighties, he frequently found packs numbering as many as 

 a thousand birds, and that they habitually roosted in the long grass 

 beside sloughs. The prairie hen is migratory in the northern part of 

 its range, and to a certain extent farther south also. The well-known 

 authority on migration, Prof. W. W. Cooke, says : * 



In November and December large flocks of prairie chickens come from north- 

 ern Iowa and southern Minnesota to settle for the winter in northern Missouri 

 and southern Iowa. This migration varies in bulk with the severity of the 

 winter. 



From a gastronomic point of view the prairie hen deserves high 

 praise; it is larger than the ruffed grouse, sometimes weighing 3 

 pounds, and has a delicious flavor. The flesh of young birds is light- 

 colored, of old ones dark. The estimation in which the bird is held 



a Tympanuchus americanus attwateri (Bendire). 

 i Bui. 2, Div, Econ, Ornith., Dept. Agri., p. 105, 1888. 



