248 THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRD LIFE 



when the Eastern States awoke to the fact that 

 something must be done to preserve the species, 

 it was too late. The heath hens were gone. The 

 remnant, a paltry few hundred, alone still sur- 

 vive at Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. 



Prairie chickens barely escaped the same fate. 

 Inhabitants of the open prairies, crouching to a 

 pointing dog and present in indefinite numbers, 

 they are particularly eligible for the gun in the 

 hands of the hunter. 



And as soon as the open land of the West had 

 been settled, the hunter was not slow to take ad- 

 vantage of the opportunity presented him. Pro- 

 fessional hunters first sold the birds to the trains 

 of emigrants which in the fifties and sixties wound 

 across the great open plains ; then, as towns began 

 to spring up, they disposed of them to the shop- 

 keepers. Prairie chickens succumbed in thou- 

 sands. 



Presently they were shot for sport; and their 

 habit of gathering in large flocks cleared the way 

 for their destroyers. Once a flock was discovered, 

 continuous shooting was assured for the day. It 

 was a common custom for so-called sportsmen — ^in 

 reality "game-hogs" — to drive to the shooting- 

 ground in wagons and not to return home until the 

 vehicles were filled with birds. 



If automobiles had been invented while chicken 

 shooting was in its prime, the demise of the spa- 

 des would have followed much sooner. Several 



