THE BIRD IS OF WISCONSIN. 
57 
than those from New England, they appear to be nearer 
umbellus than to true togata, which almost invariably has the 
entire throat barred transversely with dusky markings, a 
feature not found in our birds. 
Lagopns lagopus (Linn.). WILLOW PTARMIGAN. 
Exceedingly rare straggler from the north. Two speci- 
mens were captured in a trap at Racine in December, 184(>, 
by Dr. P. R. Hoy. His additional note, in his list of 1852, 
that it "nests in the tangle of evergreen swamps in the north- 
western parts of the state" rested on information furnished 
him by Indians, as he himself informed us years afterward. 
Many years ago a well known friend of ours, and a reliable 
naturalist, Prof. W. F. Bundy, furnished us with a note to 
the effect that he procured a ptarmigan in Sauk County in 
1876. We are at present unable to learn Prof. Bundy's 
address and can give no details of this capture. Some time 
in the fifties a land hunter from the northern part of the 
state brought a mutilated, frozen ptarmigan to Thure 
Kumlien to show that his assertion that these birds, well 
known to him in his native Norway, did exist in Wisconsin, 
as Kumlien had probably intimated that they did not. During 
our sojourn on Lake Superior we made repeated inquiries in 
regard to this bird and received some interesting information 
— such as it is. It is certain, however, that the ptarmigan 
occurs as a rare winter visitor in the northern peninsula of 
Michigan, and formerly at least reached Wisconsin during 
the severest weather. 
Tympanuchns amerieanus (Reich.). PRAIRIE HEN. 
Common resident in many parts of the state. The prairie 
chicken seems to have moved westward with the settlement 
of the country. In the early forties it was rather rare in 
southern Wisconsin, and at the present time has almost entirely 
replaced the next. The species thrives well in cultivated 
sections if reasonably protected. Sensible legislation has 
resulted in a marked increase in its numbers during the pa^t 
ten to fifteen years, and on the prairies and large tracts of 
wild dry marsh land, where it is allowed to nest unmolested, 
it is still quite plenty. 
Pedicecetes phasianellus campestris Ridgw. PRAIRIE SHARP- 
TAILED GROUSE. 
Resident. The sharp-tails seem to be rapidly giving way 
to the prairie hen, a species better adapted for life in a settled 
