PRAIRIE IIEN. 13 
tlie safety of the l)inl is assured. The laws wlatin^ to the close 
>easoii have been greatly improved, hut in some States the o|)en st»a- 
^on (four mouths in Oklahonui and South Dakota) is still t<M) lon^. 
The preservation of tlie prairie hen is far liioi'e difficult than that of 
(he bobwhite. The b()l)\vliit(' is more prolific and does not r«><jiiire so 
extensive a ran<re. Moreover, it is swifter of wing and habitually 
dives into the woods to escape the hunter. Before the hammerless 
<j^un and the wide-ranging bird dog the grouse of the open prairie falls 
an easy victim. It has to contend also with the trapper, besides 
jjredatory birds, reptiles, and mannnals. Its most deadly enemy, 
however, is the prairie fire in spring, which destroys every nest within 
its sweej). E. W. Nelson informs the writer that in the early seventies 
in northwestern Illinois the farmers in many places burned the 
l)rairies in spring after the prairie hens nested, and often gathered foi* 
household use large numbers of the eggs thus exposed. Were it pos- 
sible for stockmen to burn the grass a little earlier it would result in 
the saving of thousands of birds. 
The prairie hen has the advantage, however, of yielding more 
readily to domestication than the bobwhite, and strong eti'orts should 
be made to establish preserves of domesticated birds for restocking 
country where the species is extinct. Successful enterprises of fhis 
kind would be j^rofitable. That such domestication is possible and 
even feasible, the appended quotation from Audubon implies : « 
The Pinnated Grous is easily tamed, and easily kept. It also breeds in con- 
finement, and I have often felt surprised that it has not been fairly domesticated. 
While at Henderson, I purchased sixty alive, that were expressly caught for me 
within twelve miles of that village, and brought in a bag laid across the back 
of a horse. I cut the tips of their wings, and turned them loose in a garden 
and orchard about four acres in extent. Within a week they became tame 
enough to aUow me to approach them without their being frightened. ♦ ♦ ♦ 
In the course of the winter they became so gentle as to feed from the hand of 
my wife, and walked about the garden like so many tame fowls, mingling 
occasionally with the domestic poultry. * * * When spring returned they 
strutted, ' tooted,' and fought, as if in the wilds where they had received their 
birth. Many laid eggs, and a good number of young ones made their appearance. 
There is great probability of success in the restocking of much of 
the former range of the prairie hen if undertaken in tlie proper way 
and properly sustained by adequate protective laws. Successful 
results would materially add to the assets of every farm. 
FOOD HABITS. 
For the purposes of this report the contents of 71 stomachs of 
prairie hens have been examined. Fortunately this material repre- 
sents not only the shooting season, but all other months except July. 
Most of the stomachs came from the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Wis- 
oOrnith. Hiog. II, p. 41)5, is;{n 
