216 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
a few were said to occur on the barren plains which 
cover portions of Ocean and Burlington counties in 
New Jersey. This is a part of the pine barren region, 
an elevated, dry tract covered with dwarf pines, which 
average not more than a foot and a half in height. 
Turnbull, in his “Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania,” 
states that in 1869 a few survived in Monroe and 
Northampton counties in that State. 
The heath hen is very similar to the prairie hen, but 
slightly smaller. The tufts of pointed neck feathers 
are shorter and, as already said, the bird has slight 
points of difference in color. Though called a wood- 
land bird, it is much in the open or in the thick, 
low scrub oak and pines which cover an area of 
forty miles square. There are thought to be not more 
than 150 or 200 of these birds left alive, and they 
are therefore more nearly extinct than the buffalo. 
They are already protected by law and should be still 
more strongly protected by public opinion of the resi- 
dents of Martha’s Vineyard, who ought to feel proud 
of this bird and to do everything in their power to 
preserve it. 
Not much had been written about the heath hen on 
Martha’s Vineyard until the year 1885, when Mr. 
William Brewster visited the island for the special 
purpose of studying the bird. He reported the re- 
sults of this visit in the Auk, and in 1890 repeated the 
trip and gained additional information, which was 
printed in Forest and Stream. He said : 
“Throughout Martha’s Vineyard, the heath hen 
