THE AUDUBON? BUEECE TIN 
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prairie chicken. “There are not comparable areas, at least in size, in 
Illinois, but no doubt a careful survey would reveal places where prairie 
chickens could be given special advantages and complete protection. Certain 
groups of farmers, especially in northern Illinois, have organized associa- 
tions which have as one of their objectives the encouragement of game 
and other useful birds on their farms. ‘This excellent practice has served 
to perpetuate the prairie chicken where otherwise it would not be in 
existence today. Much more of this kind of work could be done in Illi- 
nois, even if it is not practicable for the state to purchase land for the 
establishment of preserves. 
In Wisconsin, one of the critical times in the life of the prairie chicken 
is during the severe winters, when the food supply of these birds is covered 
with snow and ice. The ground feeding grouse do not seem to be able to 
subsist on buds of trees above the deep snows to the extent that it is done 
by the hardier ruffed grouse, and hence at such times are severely pressed 
to secure a living. One of the most positive steps taken for the conserva- 
tion of the prairie chicken by the state of Wisconsin has been the establish- 
ment of feeding stations in strategic locations throughout the prairie chicken 
country. In 1928-1929 experimental plots of ground ranging in size from 
a half acre to two acres in extent were planted with buckwheat and smaller 
amounts of sorghum, sunflowers and broomcorn. Half of the grain was 
left standing for immediate use as soon as it was ripe and the other part 
was cut, placed in covered shocks and opened up during severe weather 
conditions. It was not unusual, according to the wardens in charge, to see 
two to three hundred birds at a single station at one time. These plots 
have proven so successful that more than sixty stations were planted this 
year (1930) for use of the birds during the following winter. This past 
fall a devastating fire swept over thousands of acres of prairie in the central 
plain, destroying all of the cover and food wherever it raged. In addition, 
killing frosts in June and the excessive drought during the summer cur- 
tailed the usual supply of weed seeds, wild fruits and berries in the un- 
burned areas. As a result of the combination of these adverse conditions 
the feeding stations were visited and ravaged by hundreds of hungry birds 
so early in the season that all of the available food was eaten long before 
the end of the year. An emergency was declared to exist and additional 
food supplies consisting chiefly of shocked corn and buckwheat and bushels 
of threshed grains in automatic feeders or hoppers have been supplied for 
the birds in the devastated areas. Sportsmen’s organizations, such as the 
Izaak Walton League chapters, as well as individual sportsmen, are assist- 
ing the state in these feeding projects in an effort to preserve the prairie 
chicken for Wisconsin. The bird lover may insist that this is done merely 
because the sportsman wishes to kill. It is true that excessive and un- 
restricted hunting in the past has decimated the numbers of these birds 
and there are “killers’’ who think of game as merely so many birds to 
