204 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 
a safe distance between themselves and the intruder they 
continue their course in silence; nor, if when on the wing 
they should chance to fly over a sportsman, do they repeat 
their note of alarm. 
Their favorite food is buckwheat, corn, oats, wheat, and 
grass-seed, the buds of fruit-trees, and the seed of the sumac. 
Their size is eighteen inches long by twenty-seven inches 
across the wings: bill short, stout, and curved, with the 
upper mandible considerably overlapping the lower; legs 
feathered to the ankle; feet of ordinary size; toes covered 
above with numerous small scales; hind toes very short; 
claws moderately long, curved and concave beneath; feath- 
ers compact, those of the head and neck long and flexible, 
with a continuation tapering to a crest on back of head; 
on either side a tuft of fine long hackles, covering a bare 
portion, which is orange-colored in the males and dull brown 
in the females; the wings short and much rounded; pin- 
feathers hard and short; tail short and composed of eight- 
een broad feathers; bill dusky ; iris yellow; toes dull yel- 
low; claws bluish ; the neck and upper portion of back dark 
brown, mixed with gray, getting lighter beneath ; tail dirty 
brown, tipped with white, except the middle feathers, which 
are mottled with a deep brown; and a dark line from man- 
dible to eye, thence back to neck, and a beautiful patch of 
soft slate-colored feathers under each wing, invaluable to 
the fly-tyer—is a correct description of their appearance. 
The following are the events of a day’s shooting on the 
Grand Prairie, which occurred a few years since, and may 
be considered as a sample of the average sport to be en- 
joyed in the month of October: , 
On rising from the breakfast-table we found the team 
waiting. But few minutes were necessary to stow our 
traps, and get under way. Near the confines of the village 
(Kent, Indiana) we found birds; but our driver (who aas 
