THE PRAIRIE HEN IN NEBRASKA 



ON frosty spring mornings, as the sun rises over the prairies, one 

 may at times hear a singular, resonant, booming note, boom- 

 ah-b-o-o-m, boom-ah-b-o-o-m. It is the love-song of the Prairie 

 Hen. He may he near at hand or possibly two miles away, so far does 

 this sound, unobstructed by tree or hill, carry in the clear air. It is well 

 worth following, however, for we may find the maker of it, witli perhaps 

 ten to fifty of his kind, engaged in a most remarkaljle performance. 



During the mating season, from March until early in May, the 

 Prairie Hens of a certain district or area gather before daybreak to take 

 part in these courtship demonstrations. The feather-tufts on either 

 side of the neck are erected like horns, the tail raised and spread, the 

 wings drooped, when the bird first rushes forward a few steps, pauses, 

 inflates its orange-like air-sacks, and, with a violent, jerking, muscular 

 effort, produces the startling boom, which we may have heard when two 

 miles distant. 



At other times, mth a low cackle, he springs suddenly into the air. 

 as though quite unable to control himself, and finally he comes within 

 striking distance of a rival who has been giving a similar exhibition. 

 Then, with much clashing of wings, a fight ensues which often strews 

 the nearby grass with feathers. 



These tournaments of display and combat are doubtless designed to 

 arouse the attention of the females, but they also occur when onlj' 

 males are present. Within an hour or two after sunrise, the time 

 varying with the ardor of the birds, the competition is over for the daj' 

 and the rivals feed peacefully together, until they enter the lists the 

 following morning. 



Market hunting has greatly decreased the numbers of Prairie Hens, 

 but on the United States Government Forest Reservation, in the sparselj- 

 inhabited sandhills of western Nebraska, on the line of the Chicago, 

 Burlington and Quincy R. R., where the studies for this group were 

 made, they still exist. 



The eastern Prairie Chicken, or Heath Hen, was once locally com- 

 mon from New Jersey to Massachusetts, but it is now found only on 

 Martha's Vinevard. 



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