THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 13 
from somewhere in front. Through our peep-holes we saw a single 
cock walking slowly toward us some fifty teet away pausing now and 
then to send out his challenge. We looked beyond and saw in quick 
succession, ten more cocks, flying low, drop one by one to the ground 
over an area of about an acre near the blind. While waiting for the 
birds to come closer we studied their technique on the booming or 
strutting ground with much interest, and in my case at least, with 
considerable astonishment. 
Each bird seemed to have a rather definite area which he left at 
his peril. At intervals of a few minutes he crouched slightly, uttered 
a rapid clucking sound much like a domestic hen, gave two or three 
harsh cries in quick succession and then began a rapid tatoo with his 
feet, sometimes gyrating, sometimes not, tail vertical, wings out- 
stretched and drooping. The head, well up at first, began descending 
with a slightly jerky motion, the throat membrane of a bright orange 
color began to expand until it seemed the size of a tennis ball, and as 
it expanded there came the booming sound, in two distinct notes, and 
so loud that on a quiet morning it can be heard for half a mile or more. 
As the booming began, the two pointed tufts of neck feathers were 
swung rapidly to a vertical position. As the performance ended, they 
fell back and the tail feathers were slightly spread. When one bird 
started the others usually followed, filling the field and the sky with 
their music. 
After a while they seemed to tire of such fruitless competition. 
One cock would walk or run rapidly toward another which seemed 
to be invading his territory and the two would begin moving forward 
and back, facing each other, their bills a foot or so apart. Usually 
they settled down, eyeing each other for a moment, and then, after a 
feint or two, leaped into the air, made a few harmless passes with 
their feet and called it a day, each walking back to his own bailiwick. 
After this concert and sham battle had been going on for an hour 
or more the reason for it suddenly became apparent in the form of 
a prairie hen, who emerged coyly from a patch of rough ground 
nearby. Though she was plainly dressed and of most modest demeanor, 
her sudden entry made the young gentlemen quite delirious. Instantly 
the strutting ground became bedlam let loose. Most of the cocks joined 
battle at once with the nearest rival, leaped higher and cackled louder 
than ever, and for a moment the air seemed full of fluttering birds 
and actually a few loose feathers drifted off to prove that honor was 
being satisfied. Then suddenly all was calm again. One of the cocks, 
whether by leaping the highest, or cackling the loudest, had won the 
young lady’s admiring heart and they mated upon his chosen dancing 
ground. 
The morning show begins before daylight and continues until 
after eight, if the birds are undisturbed, and is carried on with more 
enthusiasm than the afternoon performance. On both occasions the 
birds were practically oblivious to our blinds, even alighting on top 
of them, and showing no reluctance at coming within twelve or fifteen 
feet of our whirring cameras. Two things made picture taking diffi- 
