LAND BIRDS. 233 
Trombley stated that it was nearly or quite extinct in 1906. Probably 
it exists in greatest numbers at the present time in those counties of the 
three southern tiers, in which the swales and undrained marshes of the 
original prairie region have been best protected from fire. Frequent fires 
and the incessant persecution of gunners have completed the extermination 
in scores of places where the bird was once abundant. 
The call of the male during the mating season is one of the most re- 
markable among bird notes. It is variously known as “booming,” ‘“crow- 
ing” and “tooting,” but no one of these terms gives any fair idea of the 
notes, which combine the sweetness and clearness of a bell with the re- 
sonance of a drum. Probably they could be most closely imitated with 
a pure-toned cornet, at least this is the case with those we have heard 
here in Ingham county. But other observers describe the sounds as 
quite different. Thus Judge Caton speaks of ‘the proud cock* * * * 
pouring out a booming noise, almost a hoarse roar, only more subdued, 
which may be heard for at least two miles in the still morning. This heavy 
booming sound is by no means harsh or unpleasant; on the contrary it is 
soft and even harmonious. If heavier than the deep key notes of a large 
organ, it is much softer, though vastly more powerful.” Doubtless the 
distance at which the bird is heard has much to do with the impression 
produced, and we have found it extremely difficult to locate the bird by the 
sound, so much so that the power of ventriloquism often ascribed to this 
species seems to be quite warranted. When “booming” the male inflates 
the naked air sacs on the sides of the neck, until they look, as Judge Caton 
says, “like two ripe oranges.”’ 
So far as we can learn no southward migration of this species in the Inte 
fall or winter has ever been noticed in this state, although it is a well known 
fact that such a migration occurred formerly with great regularity in 
Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska, and to a lesser extent in Wisconsin 
and Illinois. During these migrations flocks of several hundred individuals, 
sometimes a thousand or more, have been noted, but they were always wild 
and difficult of approach, and when alarmed made flights of several miles 
without pausing. In Iowa at least it has been shown that these migrating 
birds are chiefly, if not entirely, females, the males remaining all winter 
at the north (Cooke, Bird Migration in the Mississippi Valley, 1888, 105). 
The Prairie Chicken nests invariably on the ground and lays from ten 
to fifteen eggs which vary from “pale cream to vinaceous and olive-buff, 
as well as light brown and clay color, usually faintly but regularly spotted 
with fine pin-points of reddish brown” (Bendire, Life Histories, Vol. I, 
p. 92). The eggs are generally laid early in May, but have been found 
occasionally in July and August. Normally but one brood is reared in a 
season, and the period of incubation is said to be from three to four weeks. 
Our illustration (Plate XIV) is from a nest of fourteen eggs found at 
Chandler’s Marsh, Ingham county, May 31, 1897, by L. J. Cole. The eggs 
average 1.66 by 1.24 inches. 
Its food consists very largely of insects so long as these are obtainable, 
and not infrequently grasshoppers form almost the sole food for weeks at 
atime. Various grains and seeds are also eaten freely, and during the colder 
half of the year, buds, berries and leaves are freely taken. Since the bird 
never injures grain crops in any way, and destroys myriads of harmful 
insects, its preservation and increase would seem to commend themselves 
to the farmer, who should encourage their presence whenever possible, 
