236 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
dawn, listening to hundreds of different voices, pitched 
on different keys, coming from every direction and 
from various distances, the listener is rather soothed 
than excited. If this sound is heavier than the deep 
keynotes of a large organ, it is much softer, though 
vastly more powerful, and may be heard at a much 
greater distance. One who has heard such a concert 
can never after mistake or forget it. 
“Every few minutes this display is repeated. I 
have seen not only one, but more than twenty cocks 
going through this funny operation at once, but then 
they seem careful not to run against each other, for 
they have. not yet got to the fighting point. After a 
little while the lady birds begin to show an interest in 
the proceedings by moving about quickly, a few yards 
at a time, and then standing still a short time. When 
these actions are continued by a large number of birds 
at a time, it presents a funny sight, and you can easily 
think they are moving to the measure of music. 
“The party breaks up when the sun is half an hour 
high, to be repeated the next morning and every morn- 
ing for a week or two before all make satisfactory 
matches. It is toward the latter part of the love season 
that the fighting takes place among the cocks, probably 
by two who have fallen in love with the same sweet- 
heart, whose modesty prevents her from selecting be- 
tween them.” 
Audubon reports that he tried the experiment of 
puncturing the inflatable air-sacs on the neck of a male 
prairie chicken. He caught one of the birds and passed 
