84 



PRAIRIE CHICKEN 



Sage Grouse 

 Group 



Love making of the prairie chicken In this position 

 and with orange-like air sacks inflated, he produces a 

 booming sound which may carry a distance of two 

 miles. 



Prairie 



Chicken 



Group 



be found in tlie Far North, 

 and the bird Hfe is arctic in 

 character. Here are nesting 

 the white-tailed ptarmigan, 

 rosy snow finches and pipits. 

 (Reproduced from studies in 

 the Canadian Rockies.) 



This group shows a stretch 

 of Western pla- 

 teau covered 

 with sage bush. 

 In this bush is seen the male 

 sage grouse strutting and woo- 

 ing a mate. (Reproduced 

 from studies at [Medicine Bow, 

 Wyoming.) 



The prairie chickens are 

 akin to the com- 

 mon grouse. The 

 group represents 

 a typical scene 

 (luring the mating season. 

 The male birds go through most surprising antics in their efforts to 

 attract the females. They inflate the orange-colored sacs on the sides 

 of their necks, dancing and strutting about and uttering a loud, resonant, 

 booming note. (Reproduced from studies near Halsey, Nebraska.) 

 The wild goose is one of the first birds to migrate north in the spring. 

 It nests in the lakes of Canada even before the ice is melted, 

 cose rp^ secure the young birds for this group it was necessary 

 to hatch the eggs of the wild goose under a hen, so difficult 

 is it to find the young in nature. (Reproduced from studies made at 

 Crane Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada.) 



The grebe is another of our aquatic birds which i)uilds its nest near the 



water. During the inculcation period the parent bird 



Grebe Group usually covers the eggs with grass and reeds when leaving 



the nest. Nesting at the same lake with tlu^ grebe was the 



redhead duck, which lays from fifteen to twenty eggs. (Reproduced 



from studies made at Crane Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada.) 



The loon is justly famed for its skill as a diver, and can swim with 



great speed under water. Its weirtl call is a familiar 



Loon Group sound on the northern New England lakes. Many loons 



pass the winter at sea fifty miles or more from 



