392 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



it is almost impossible to distinguish them. In fall and winter 

 they gather into bands containing twenty-five or more birds. 

 In the fall of 1910 I saw a flock of more than fifty individuals. 

 When flushed they do not rise high, but often fly half a mile or 

 more, sometimes wheeling and quartering, until they have 

 chosen a place to alight. In flight the wings are beaten rapidly 

 and then set while the bird sails. This alternate fluttering 

 and sailing is continued somewhat after the fashion of the 

 flight of a Meadowlark. I am told by natives of the island 

 that individuals or flocks fly several miles, at times going from 

 one township to another, and that in winter they sometimes 

 alight and plume themselves on the roofs of isolated farm- 

 houses, as the Prairie Chicken was wont to do of old. In 

 early spring the males indulge in their peculiar antics. At 

 daybreak many males meet at certain places that they seem 

 to choose for their dancing grounds, where they run, jump 

 and flop about, cackle, blow and toot until the sun gets high, 

 when they fly away. Sometimes two males engaged in this 

 performance run toward each other, dancing and blowing as 

 they go, but on approaching quite close they squat, and remain 

 motionless from two to flve minutes. Sometimes they fight 

 a little, but usually expend most of their energy in puffing and 

 blowing, or "tooting." The sound produced is described by 

 Dr. Field as like that made by the distant whistles of tugboats 

 in a fog, but aU on the same pitch. Each call extends over a 

 period of two seconds. The bird first runs forward about 

 three feet, with short, mincing steps, and then sounds its call. 

 It raises its tail erect, spreads it, lowers its wings a trifle, leans 

 forward, erects the peculiar pinnates or "neck wings" above 

 its head in the form of a V, and inflates the peculiar orange- 

 colored air sacs on the neck to the size of a small orange (as 

 shown in the plate facing page 385). The tooting seems to be 

 produced by the inflation of the air sacs, after which the air 

 is expelled suddenly. Audubon, however, believed that the 

 sound was made by expelling the air, and he found that the 

 bird was unable to toot after these sacs had been punctured 

 by a pin. Another call, according to Dr. Field, resembles a 

 single syllable of the hoot of a Barred Owl. 



