105 



"became plentiful, comparatively speaking, in this neighborhood and to the eastward, 

 that is to say, between here and Winnipeg. I had the good fortune to secure two 

 specimens in rather a lucky fashiou. I was out with a friend, chicken shooting, Octo- 

 ber 6, 1884, at Burnside, a settlement 10 miles west of this town, when we saw a large 

 flock of Grouse alight in a stubble field near ns. When we reached the field three 

 birds got up, of which I killed two with the first barrel, and the other with the sec- 

 ond barrel. Of the two first killed, one was a Pinnated Grouse, and the other a Sharp- 

 tailed Grouse ; the one killed with the second barrel was a Pinnated Grouse. I got 

 no others, but heard of them from nearly all of my acquaintances who hunt. Strange 

 to say, all that were obtained, except one, appear to have been young birds, and this 

 one was in full plumage, having on each side of the neck the long, pointed feathers 

 peculiar to the species. So far as I can learn with any degree of certainty, these 

 birds are not yet (March, 1885) found much west of the place where I killed mine, 

 nor farther north than 10 or 12 miles from Portage la Prairie. They are evidently 

 working in herefrom Minnesota and Dakota, and are following the grain. Up to this 

 time the Sharp- tailed Grouse has been very abundant, but, as might be expected, it 

 is getting scarcer in the vicinity of the towns. So far, both birds here associate to- 

 gether when they pack and find food in the stubbles. 



We have here a case of northward migration of young birds in the 

 fall, similar to that which has been noticed so often in the case of the 

 Herons. 



At Portage la Prairie none were seen in spring until 1885, when a 

 few were noticed and its " booming" was heard for the first time. 



The Prairie Chicken is commonly said to be a resident bird, and so it 

 is in the larger part of its range ; but in Iowa a regular though local 

 migration takes place. This has been mentioned by former writers, and 

 in the spring of 1884 a special study was made of the matter. Many 

 observers unite in testifying to the facts in the case, and, what is still 

 more important, there is not a dissenting voice. One of the observers 

 does not exaggerate when he says : "Prairie Chickens migrate as reg- 

 ularly as the Canada Goose." Summing up all the information received, 

 the facts of the case are as follows : In November and December large 

 flocks of Prairie Chickens come from northern Iowa and southern Min- 

 nesota, to settle for the winter in northern Missouri and southern Iowa. 

 This migration varies in bulk with the severity of the winter. 



During an early cold snap immense flocks come from the northern 

 prairies to southern Iowa, while in mild, open winters the migration is 

 much less pronounced. Duriug a cold, wet spring the northward move- 

 ment in March and April is largely arrested on the arrival of the flocks 

 in northern Iowa ; but an early spring, with fair weather, finds them 

 abundant in the southern tier of counties in Minnesota, and many flocks 

 pass still farther north. The most remarkable feature of this movement 

 is found in the sex of the migrants. It is the females that migrate, 

 leaving the males to brave the winter's cold. Mr. Miller, of Heron Lake, 

 Minn., fairly states the case when he says : " The females in this lat- 

 itude migrate south in the fall and come back in the spring about one 

 or two days after the first Ducks, and they keep coming in flocks of 

 from ten to thirty for about three days, all flying north. The Grouse 

 that stay all winter are males." 



