until about 1890;that they disappeared "all at once, like the passenger 
pidgeon." The county of which he speaks was nét drained until 1900, 

Ewinger told me that chickens were common on the bk ttom land 
prairies of Henderson County on the grounds of the old Lone Tree hunting 
club until about 1916. Since this iand was drained in 1912 or 14 the 
drainage may have been the cause, 
Dadant told me that chickens were plentiful in Adams County up to 
about 1899. This was on black upland prairie, 
The other dates of disappearance are included on Map I. Most ob- 
servers told me that the chickens had disappeared gradually,with no 
particularly noticeable falling off in any particular year, 
Life History Data Dedant told me that in 1863 great numbers of prairie 
Chickens flew into the timber to roost in winter. This was told him by 
his father and pertains to the femily farm in Adams County 2 miles from 
Hamilton. They are said to heave weighted down the trees in these roosts, 
I particularly determined that these chickens were not coming in to bud, 
&s is the course,common in winter. 
In view of the dispute as to whether quail eat chinch bugs it is 
worthwhile to record a statement by Bowman that he has often found chinnh | 
bug in chicken and that their crops are often filled with them ih Aug- 
ust. 
Arthur Hemilton,guide and pusher for George Phelps in the Beards-~ 
town area,gave me an account of a flight of chickens which he saw about 
1908 while a boy on his father's farm near Elmwood,in west Peoria County. 
The date,he says,is correct within a year or two,and the month was Aug- 
ust,as shown from his recollection of roasting ears being about ready. 
Hamilton says this flight was headed southward and started in the fore- 
noon,lasting for about an hour."The sky was full of chickens like 
blackbirds," 
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