NATURAL HISTORY. 



THE HEATH HEN OF MARTHA'S 

 VINEYARD. 



HERBERT L. GOGGINS 



For a long time the heath hen was re- 

 garded as identical with the prairie chicken 

 of the Western United States. It was not 

 until 1885 that Mr. Brewster, who was the 

 first to recognize the 2 forms, divided the 

 pinnated grouse into Cupidona pinata, prai- 

 rie chicken, and Cupidona cupido, heath 

 hen. He distinguished the heath hen as be- 

 ing smaller and darker, with tarsi compara- 

 tively shorter. Later, Mr. Ridgway re- 

 named them, calling the prairie chicken 

 Tympanuchus Amcricanus and the heath 

 hen Tympanuchus cupido. 



Perhaps the best way to identify the 

 heath hen is by the brown bars under the 

 wing, which are wanting in the prairie 

 chicken. The latter is an inhabitant of the 

 plains ; the former is a woodland species. 

 The range of the heath hen was formerly 

 from Massachusetts to Virginia, but, not- 

 withstanding its reported presence on Nau- 

 shon and Cape Cod, it is now found only 

 on Martha's Vineyard, an island 3 miles 

 South of Cape Cod. 



The island is triangular. Its greatest 

 length is about 20 miles and at no place 

 does its width exceed 8 miles. Except 

 along the Western coast, where there is a 

 ridge of hills 9 miles long and 200 to 300 

 feet high, the surface is level. It is well 

 wooded with low trees, chiefly black, scar- 

 let and white oak, with here and there a 

 grove of yellow pines. The undergrowth 

 is bay, scrub oak, beach plum and several 

 varieties of huckleberry. The central por- 

 tion of the island is sandy, covered with 

 blueberry bushes and scrub oak. This plain 

 extends to the Southern shore, and is prac- 

 tically uninhabited, being used only for 

 sheep pasture. To this plain the heath hen, 

 or hethen, as it is locally called, is confined 

 during the nesting season. 



Here, according to the inhabitants, the 

 species was, and still is, abundant. The 

 nesting season is late. I am told that dur- 

 ing the blueberry season, in August, it is 

 not unusual to flush a hethen with her 

 brood. Later, when the young have grown, 

 they become exceedingly shy. When 

 flushed, they fly a short distance, then 

 suddenly shoot into the undergrowth. 

 There is a local expression, "As wild as a 

 hethen." 



When the blueberry season is over, the 

 birds come down to the outlying woods, 

 where, during the winter, they subsist on 

 bay berries and acorns. At that season 

 they are not so wild and are often seen on 



the outskirts. of West Tisbury, Chilmark, 

 and Vineyard Haven. One woman living 

 just outside of Cottage City, tells me that 

 during last winter several hethens came 

 regularly to be fed with her chickens. 



For many years there has been a rumor 

 that prairie chickens have been liberated on 

 Martha's Vineyard. This belief is deeply 

 rooted in the minds of the inhabitants, and 

 all the old gunners pretend to distinguish 

 the 2 species. 



All the foundation I could find for that 

 belief was hearsay, that 2 prairie chickens 

 were set free in Vineyard Haven in 1898. 

 Mr. Brewster says in 1895 there were about 

 200 heath hens alive -on the island. Since 

 then, however, he believes they have be- 

 come almost extinct. According to infor- 

 mation gathered from the natives, they 

 have been plentiful the last few sea- 

 sons. One man told me he seldom drives 

 across the oak plains without flushing them. 

 Another, living at Cottage City, says he 

 often starts flocks of 8 or 9 while driving 

 to his shooting box on the South shore, 

 and that single birds are common. He 

 adds that they have multiplied the last year, 

 and if unmolested will increase rapidly. In 

 spite of the protective law, many of these 

 birds are shot every winter and sent to 

 taxidermists on the mainland. While this 

 speaks well for their present abundance, it 

 is ominous as to their future. 



On the nth of last September, while 

 crossing a small oak woods, I started 3 

 birds which I suppose were heath hens. 

 They had been feeding on acorns and in 

 many places had scratched away the leaves 

 as domestic fowls do. They remained quiet 

 until I come within a few yards of 

 them, then sprang up in rapid succession. 

 They flew but a short distance, however, 

 and before they again took wing 'I was able 

 to get a good view of them. 



Unless the Western bird has been liber- 

 ated on the island, those were heath hens. 

 The only other times I saw what I 

 believe were heath hens were August 30, 

 1898, on which date 6 birds were seen, and 

 one day late in August, 1896, when one bird 

 was noted. Those 10 birds observed rep- 

 resent my entire experience with the heath 

 hen during the last 5 summers ; and I be- 

 lieve their numbers are greatly overesti- 

 mated. Ruffed grouse are common on the 

 island, and I think are often mistaken for 

 hethens. 



Last spring an extensive forest fire swept 

 over the region occupied by the heath hen. 

 Whether this catastrophe has hastened their 

 extermination will not be known until next 



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