Peieten Aa Laue DLO Nee BeUalain Tol N 3 
short-eared owls roosting on it. We counted ten at one time and there were 
probably more. A few rods farther on we discovered the flock of prairie 
chickens in a snowy, weed-grown field. The birds were quite a distance from 
the road but were easily identified with glasses. A little farther along the 
road a flock of ring-necked pheasants came single file from a field of 
standing corn out into a field of corn shocks. We counted twenty-three. 
There had been plenty of pheasants before the hunting season last fall but 
these were the first seen since then. On our way home we saw a covey of 
nine quail near a stack of soy bean straw. 
This day had netted sc many birds and in such quantities that the trip 
was repeated the next day with even better results. The owls could be 
studied at ease. One prairie chicken fiew to the ground a few rods from the 
car. It stood and stared at us and we stared back. One could have counted 
his stripes had he so desired. On both days prairie chickens flew from one 
side of the road to the other, and one or two had flown over drifts and 
lighted in trees. Oh, yes they did. One chicken, some distance away, was 
raising a cloud of snow, easily seen with the naked eye. We could not tell 
whether he was doing it with his feet or his wings. We wondered whether 
he was digging in for the night (it was late afternoon) or digging for food. 
Nearly every year we get at least one record of prairie chickens along this 
Prairie Chicken on the Booming Grounds 
Photo by A. M. Bailey 
road. Last spring we were out early, before any vegetation had started, 
and we had seen a dozen or more of the birds feeding among the weed 
stalks, but nowhere near as many as there were this year. Did someone ask 
