Ridgway and Friedmann (1946:221) as from Neosho Falls, which 

 was Goss' home. 



Other eastern records are as follows: A specimen in the Hurter 

 Collection from southwestern Missouri, no date (Bent, 1932:285); 

 a specimen in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 of Philadelphia from Garnett (spelled Garneth in Bent), Kansas, 

 January 24-28, 1894 (Bent, loc. cit.); a male from Greenwood 

 County, Kansas, in the "Rinker Collection," July or August 1895 

 (Long, 1937:78). Probably it is significant that none of these 

 specimens, for which the date of collection is given, was taken in 

 the breeding season. The University of Kansas Museum of Natural 

 History has only one specimen from outside the present breeding 

 range of the species and that is from Logan County; the bird was 

 taken on January 1, 1921. Game Protector E. L. Bryan reported 

 to me {in litt., June 13, 1950) that the lesser prairie chicken formerly 

 occurred in Trego, Ellis and Graham counties, Kansas. Probably 

 this species formerly bred as far north as the counties just men- 

 tioned, even though the greater prairie chicken also bred there. 



No evidence has been found that the lesser prairie chicken ever 

 was reduced greatly in numbers in Kansas until the dry years of 

 the 1930-1940 decade. Immediately prior to that time the species 

 was abundant. According to the statement of a resident of Meade 

 County, Kansas, the people of that area depended upon the lesser 

 prairie chicken for food in place of domestic poultry, and the birds 

 were taken whenever needed. In approximately 1928, three men . • 

 shot 107 lesser prairie chickens on one morning, before 8 A. M., 

 south of Garden City in Finney County. 



The drought of the 1930-1940 decade seems to have almost elim- 

 inated the lesser prairie chicken in Kansas. Little food, cover or 

 water was available over large areas, and numbers of lesser prairie 

 chickens were reported to have been found dead with their nostrils 

 clogged with dust. Edward Gebhard, of Meade, thinks that the 

 only lesser prairie chickens left in Kansas at the end of the drought 

 were on the XI Ranch, approximately 75 square miles, in Meade 

 County, and a few on the Hitch Ranch in Seward County. "Buck** 

 Adams of the XI Ranch reported that lesser prairie chickens came 

 to the ranch headquarters for water in the drought years, and that 

 only one small flock survived on the entire ranch. 



In 1950, the game protectors of the Kansas Forestry, Fish and 

 Game Commission were questioned by mail to learn in which of the j 

 105 counties prairie chickens were present. They were reported 

 in 57 of the counties. Subsequent field investigation disclosed that 

 the prairie chickens in the 14 southwestern counties were lesser 



[8] 



