1882.J 
AMERICANS AGRICULTURIST. 
283 
Prairie Chickens. 
BT JOHN MORTIMER MURPHY. 
By the middle of this month (July), thousands of 
the readers of the American Agriculturist residing 
in the Western States, will be getting their fowling 
pieces ready for Prairie Chicken Shooting, the law 
being up in most of the States and Territories in 
August. The Prairie Chicken is regarded by many 
ns a bird of superior flavor and delicacy. Its gen¬ 
eral color is blaekish-brown, varied with tawny; 
the throat is buff, and the vent and under tail- 
coverts are white. It carries the well-known dis¬ 
tensible sacs on each side of the neck, and the little 
wings or tufts which have given it the specific 
name it bears. 
When the males are soliciting the company of the 
opposite sex in the spring, they inflate these sacs 
to the size of a small orange, expand the wingiets, 
spread and erect the tail, and commence booming, 
or tooting, long before daybreak, and continue it 
until sunset in places where they are numerous; 
but where they are hunted much, they are seldom 
heard after sunrise. They are always pugnacious, 
but unusually so at this period; hence, if two 
meet, they indulge in fierce battles, which termi¬ 
nate only by the flight or death of one of them. 
When they are “calling,” the air reservoirs, which 
are alternately filled and emptied, produce sounds 
not unlike the roll of a muffled drum. This roll 
cau be heard a mile away in calm weather; but if 
the skin is punctured it ceases to be resonant. As 
soon as the love season is over, the hens leave the 
males and build their nests of grass and leaves in 
the open prairie or under the shelter of a bush. 
The number of eggs laid by each varies from ten to 
sixteen ; these are a light-brownish color, irregu¬ 
larly spotted with black. If the first eggs are 
destroyed, another set is laid, but if not, only one 
brood is raised in a season. 
When the young appear, the mother displays the 
greatest solicitude for their welfare, and keeps 
steadily calling to them whenever they manifest a 
disposition to stray from her side. If a man ap¬ 
proaches them she ruffles up her feathers and*as¬ 
sumes a combative attitude, but she seldom flies 
at him, preferring to lead him away from them by 
various artifices. She warns the brood of danger 
by a single loud cluck, and the moment they hear 
it they disperse in every direction, and squat so 
close to the ground, in the tall grass or grain, that 
it is almost impossible to detect them without the 
aid of a dog. They remain in cover until the 
mother announces that the danger is over and calls 
them to her side. 
They are so fully developed by the fifteenth of 
August, although only hatched in June, that they 
afford excellent sport, as they are strong on the 
wing, and their flight, though regular,' is rather 
swift. Being fast runners, they generally try to es¬ 
cape on foot before they attempt to use their pin¬ 
ions. The young males are so exceedingly com¬ 
bative, that members of the same brood indulge in 
contests in the autumn, but these are generally 
suppressed by the mother before they lead to blood¬ 
shed. 
Audubon says that the males which he had do¬ 
mesticated were conspicuous for their courage, 
and would even fight the turkeys and dunghill 
cocks rather than yield their ground. They were 
more pugnacious in spring than at any other time, 
and strutted, tooted, and fought each other as they 
do in the wild state. He found the birds of both 
sexes readily amenable to domestication, for he had 
sixty in his garden at one time, and they became 
so tame during the winter that they would feed 
from his hand. These bred in confinement, but the 
broods were so destructive to vegetation that he 
was compelled to kill them. 
Pinnated Grouse are so abundant in portions of 
the West, that it is nothing unusual for a person 
armed with a breech-loading gun to bag from twen¬ 
ty to thirty brace in a day, but as they increase in 
numbers wherever civilized man settles, there is no 
danger that they will become scarce for many years 
to come, as they find an abundance of food in the 
numerous insects that live on the prairie, and the 
grain left in the stubble fields. They are said to 
follow man wherever he goes, the proof of this 
being furnished by their presence in several culti¬ 
vated regions beyond the Rocky Mountains where 
they were unknown a few years ago. They have 
now been traced as far westward as Nevada, and 
will, no doubt, soon be found beyond the Sierra 
Nevada, in California. The western sportsmen 
have a saying that the Pinnated Grouse follows the 
railroad, whereas the Sharp-tail flees before it, and 
they infer from this that the former can thrive in 
the vicinity of man, but that the latter cannot. 
Several experiments which have been made, prove 
that it is readily susceptible to domestication, and 
that, in contradistinction to the usual habits of its 
family, it will not only pair but breed in confine¬ 
ment. Another great advantage it possesses over 
its kindred is, that it is not very migratory, and 
manifests no desire to leave the vicinity of the barn¬ 
yard if it obtains plenty of its favorite food, and an 
opportunity of taking an occasional run in the 
grass. Its domestication would evidently prove 
profitable, as it is very prolific, weighs from two to 
nearly three pounds, and has rich and succulent 
flesh. One curious fact about the flesh is, that it 
often turns dark after a few frosty nights, and loses 
much of its pleasant flavor. Those who are epi- 
curian in taste do not like it so well then as in the 
earlier portion of the season, so it may be said to be 
in prime condition only between the fifteenth of 
August and the first or middle of October. The 
shooting season really closes about the first of 
November, for after that time the birds become so 
wild that they will not lie well to the dogs ; but per¬ 
sons who wish to try their skill at long ranges will 
find this and the following month best for their 
purpose, provided they do not care for long tramp¬ 
ing and a small bag. When the shooting is about 
over the trapping commences, 
for as soon as the snow causes 
the birds to seek the woods for 
shelter and the cornfields for 
food, vast numbers are trapped 
by means of every known device, 
and forwarded to the Atlantic 
States and Europe. This method 
of capture is'made easy by the 
habit the creatures have of 
uniting in large packs as soon as 
the weather becomes frosty, and 
of travelling together, even into 
the snares set for them. The 
general habits of the Prairie 
Chickens are now so well known 
that experienced sportsmen 
know where to seek for them 
at any time of the day or year. 
They are found in stubble fields 
and patches of flax and beans 
during the morning in the early 
part of the season, or on ridges 
and hillocks where the grass is 
short; but about ten o’clock, 
when the sun begins to get hot, 
they retire to the long grass and 
lie there until four or five o’clock 
P. M., when they resort to the 
fields again for food. They are 
sure to be found on the lee of a 
ridge if the wind blows strongly, 
and near the margins of sloughs 
in the evening. The cornfields 
are favorable retreats during the middle of the day, 
as the long stalks protect them from the glare of the 
sun, and the ground is loose enough to enable them 
to enjoy their dust bath, which is their panacea for 
parasites. Dogs find it very difficult to work them 
up in such localities, owing to their habit of skulk¬ 
ing and the dryness of the earth. The sportsman 
also learns in a short time that he cannot make a 
large bag in tall corn, as he must depend entirely 
on snap shots, and he cannot mark them down when 
theyglight after being flushed. 
The most experienced sportsmen rest during the 
heat of the day, and depend on morning and even¬ 
ing shooting for making their big bags, as the birds 
lie better to dogs then thau at any other time. 
They are also found more promptly, as their scent 
is strong, and is borne some distance away by the 
gentle breezes that generally blow for a few hours 
after sunrise and before sunset. They remain in 
the stubble fields all day in damp or cloudy weather, 
unless driven out by beating, and as they are then 
very tame, a person may approach them to within 
a few feet before they flush. The result is, that his 
bag is generally heavy, for the cool air and exercise 
brace up his nerves to such a pitch that he may 
score with his right and left barrels, in the majority 
j of cases, without much trouble. 
Later in the season, that is, from about the last 
of October to the latter end of December, the mid¬ 
dle of the day is an excellent time for pursuing 
them, as they like to bask in the sun in open places : 
but as they are very wild, strong on the wing, and 
fly rapidly, it requires good shooting and hard hit- 
PKAIRIE CHICKENS. 
