F ORES T A N 1) S T R E A M 
7(H) 
These Little Fellows Deserve Your Earnest Attention This Winter. 
Victims of the Snow and Ice 
Game Birds With All Their Cunning, Suffer Severe Losses in Winter 
By C. H. Lockwood. 
I N previous articles I have called attention 
to numerous causes of destruction to the 
pinnated grouse, or prairie chicken. 
When one stops to consider the many enemies 
that are constantly harrassing this popular game 
bird, it is no wonder that, at last, the hunters 
are becoming interested, and are willing to co¬ 
operate in any measure that will mean protec¬ 
tion to the prairie chicken. 
All too late some states have awakened to the 
fact that the prairie chicken is well nigh ex¬ 
tinct. In other states a sudden turn in the 
weather may kill off thousands of birds—and 
from whence will the stock or supply increase? 
In considering the weather, as an element of 
destruction to the prairie chicken, I shall here 
deal with birds that have reached maturity. The 
death rate to young prairie chickens from spring 
rains and chilling of the eggs is a fact well 
known to the average hunter; but death from 
the elements to the full grown bird is some¬ 
thing that possibly only the few have observed. 
Most outdoor men are aware that as soon as 
cold weather comes on, in our northern states, 
the prairie chickens accumulate into large flocks. 
These flocks range in size from a dozen or more 
birds to perhaps hundreds. As winter pro¬ 
gresses the food supply of the wild chicken be¬ 
comes ever scarcer; and from a lazy, well fed 
bird gradually becomes more or less tough, 
scrawny and particularly wild and difficult to 
approach. Almost invariably these winter 
flocks have sentinels on watch, and the poacher 
who may attempt to get within shooting range 
must use unusual tactics. 
Com in the shock and straw stacks, where 
they may find a certain amount of loose gram, 
attract the chickens in early winter, as feeding 
places. But there soon comes a period when 
the farmer has gathered in all his corn stalks 
and the ground is covered with a deep layer of 
snow. Although the prairie chicken is well 
feathered and capable of standing extreme cold 
weather yet, the storms which invariably come 
with the advent of winter, tax to the limit the 
vitality of this underfed bird grown to be large¬ 
ly dependent upon the farm and its products. 
Where to spend the night, with the most com¬ 
fort, therefore, becomes largely a problem with 
the chickens. Quite often they manage to crawl 
under straw stacks or into corn shocks; but 
perhaps the main thing they depend upon for 
warmth and shelter is the snow. The prairie 
chicken is not unlike its brother (of the woods), 
the “ruffed grouse,” in this respect. In fact 
practically all of the northern species of the gal¬ 
linaceous family have this habit of seeking 
warmth and shelter beneath the snow. And fur¬ 
ther, this habit relates not only to warmth and 
shelter, but also as a means of protection against 
its natural enemies. 
In the case of all the gallinaceous family 
which have the habit of seeking shelter and 
protection beneath the snow, the feeling of se¬ 
curity thus afforded is often the cause of their 
“destruction.” Occasionally there comes that 
freakish change in the weather when the deep, 
inner snows may remain normally dry yet, ow¬ 
ing to a damp outer surface, a crust may form 
during the night. Additional to the crust may 
come a heavy fall of sleet or even a sprinkling 
of rain. Then perchance the wind may change 
and come direct from the north, and over the 
heads of the peacefully resting chickens a tough 
barrier of icy crust has formed, making them 
“prisoners of fate.” When the birds discover 
this barrier to their liberty they undoubtedly 
wander about beneath the snow searching a 
place to escape; but everywhere it is the same— 
no outlet, no open way to the light of day. Fi¬ 
nally, we imagine them foolishly settling down 
to partake of a long winter sleep, waiting for 
Nature to release them from their predicament. 
How well they sometimes get released the skele¬ 
tons of birds which have died in this manner, 
furnish ample proof. 
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