Part 104

PRAIRIE HEN; PRAIRIE CHICKEN; PINNATED GROUSE.

Tetrao cupido, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, 1758, 160.—GM. I, 751.—LATH. Ind. Orn. II, 1790.—WILSON, Am. Orn. III, 1811, 104, pl. xxvii.—BON. Mon. Tetrao, Am. Phil. Trans. III, 1830, 392.—NUTTALL, Man. I, 662.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 490; V, 1839, 559, pl. clxxxvi.—IB. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 93, pl. ccxcxvi.—KOCH, Wiegmann’s Archiv, 1836, I, 159.—MAX. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 439. Bonasa cupido, STEPHENS, Shaw’s Gen. Zoöl. XI, 299.—GRAY, Cat. Brit. Mus. V, 1867, 88. Cupidonia americana, REICH. Av. Syst. Nat. 1850, p. xxix.—BONAP. Comptes Rendus, XLV, 1857, 428. Cupidonia cupido, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 628.—ELLIOT, P. A. N. S. 1864.—IB. Monog. Tetraon. pl.—DRESSER, Ibis, 1866, 26 (Brownsville, Texas).—MAYNARD, B. E. Mass. 1870, 138 (Martha’s Vineyard, and Naushon Island, Mass.)

SP. CHAR. Male (10,006, Tremont, Illinois; W. I. Shaw). Ground-color above ochraceous-brown, tinged with grayish; beneath white, the feathers of the jugulum dark rusty-chestnut beneath the surface. Head mostly deep buff. Upper parts much broken by broad transverse spots, or irregular bars, of deep black, this color predominating largely over the lighter tints. Primaries and tail plain dusky; the former with roundish spots of pale ochraceous on outer webs, the latter very narrowly tipped with white. Lower parts with regular, continuous, sharply defined broad bars, or narrow bands, of clear dusky-brown. A broad stripe of plain brownish-black on side of head, beneath the eye, from rictus to end of auriculars; a blotch of the same beneath the middle of the auriculars, and the top of the head mostly blackish, leaving a broad superciliary and maxillary stripe, and the whole throat immaculate buff. Neck-tufts 3.50 inches long, deep black; the longer ones uniform, the shorter with only the edge black, the whole middle portion pale buff, shading into deep reddish-rusty next to the black. Wing, 9.00; tail, 4.50; bill, .40 deep by .50 long, from nostril; tarsus, 2.10; middle toe, 1.85. Female similar, but with shorter and inconspicuous cervical tufts. Young (25,998, Rockford, Illinois; Blackman). Above, including tail, yellowish-brown; feathers with conspicuous white shaft-streaks and large blotches of deep black. Outer webs of primaries with whitish spots. Top of head rusty-brown with a black vertical and a dusky auricular patch. Lower parts yellowish-white, with irregularly defined, transverse, grayish-brown broad bars; anteriorly more spotted, the jugulum tinged with brown.

Cupidonia cupido.]

Chick (25,989, Rockford, Ill.). Bright lemon-buff, tinged on sides and jugulum with reddish; upper parts much washed with rusty. A narrow auricular streak, blotches on the vertex and occiput, a stripe across the shoulder, and blotches down the middle of the back and rump, deep black.

HAB. Prairies of the Mississippi Valley, from Louisiana, northward. East to Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania. Formerly along the eastern coast of the United States from Long Island to Cape Cod, or farther. A few still left on Naushon (?) and Martha’s Vineyard.

A pair from Calcasieu Pass, Louisiana, most resemble Illinois specimens, but are smaller (wing, 8.60, instead of 9.00), and there is rather more reddish, with less black, in the plumage.

HABITS. The Pinnated Grouse, more generally known through the country as the Prairie Chicken or Prairie Hen, once occurred as far to the east as Massachusetts, a few still remaining on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, and where it was, in the early settlement of the country, a very abundant bird; and to the southwest to Texas and throughout the Indian Territory, where it appears to be extending with the areas developed by civilization. While at the East this bird has almost entirely disappeared, in consequence of the increase of population, and except here and there in a few small and distant districts has disappeared from the Middle and Eastern States, at the West and Southwest it has greatly extended its distribution, appearing in considerable numbers, and constantly increasing as the country is settled and the land cultivated with grain. Even in Illinois, where there has been a large increase of population during the past ten years, these birds are known to have become much more numerous. It is, however, probable that they will again be driven from this region when the population becomes quite dense. Mr. Allen met with this species in several points in Kansas and in Colorado, where they had either just made their appearance, or where they had recently been noticed, and were observed to be on the increase. The small remnants left in Massachusetts are protected by law, which may preserve them a few years longer; and in Illinois and other Western States stringent provisions seek to prevent their wanton destruction. In Michigan, according to Mr. D. D. Hughes, this Grouse is common in the two southern tiers of counties, but is rarely met with in that State farther north,—an absence attributable to the want of open country and suitable food, as west of Lake Michigan it is found in great abundance much farther north. In the more southern portion of the State it is already very rare, and in localities completely exterminated.

Dr. Woodhouse found this bird quite abundant throughout the Indian Territory; more numerous, however, in the vicinity of settlements. During the fall of 1849, as he was passing down the Arkansas River, along the road leading from Fort Gibson to Fort Smith, these birds were in large flocks, feeding among the oaks upon the acorns; hundreds were to be seen at the same time. It was also very common throughout Eastern Texas.

Mr. Dresser found the Pinnated Grouse very common in travelling from Brownsville to Victoria, after leaving the chaparral and entering the prairie country. Throughout the whole of the prairie country of Texas it is abundant.

They were found by Mr. Audubon especially abundant in the States of Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, where his observations date back more than half a century, and when the country was comparatively unsettled. It was there, he states, in what was then known as the Barrens of Kentucky, that before sunrise, or at the close of the day, he “heard its curious boomings, witnessed its obstinate battles, watched it during the progress of its courtships, noted its nest and eggs, and followed its young until, fully grown, they betook themselves to winter quarters.”

When he first removed to Kentucky the Pinnated Grouse were so plentiful, and were held in such low estimation, that no hunter deigned to shoot them. They were, moreover, looked upon with ill-favor by the inhabitants on account of the mischief they committed among the fruit-trees of the orchards during winter, when they fed upon the buds, or in the spring, when they consumed the grain in the fields. In those days, in the winter, this Grouse would enter the farm-yard and feed among the poultry, would even alight on the house-tops or walk in the streets of the villages. On one occasion he caught several alive in a stable at Henderson, where they had followed some Wild Turkeys. Twenty-five years later, Mr. Audubon adds, in the same country where they had been so very abundant, scarcely one could be found. Mr. Audubon speaks of their selling in Eastern markets, in 1840, at from five to ten dollars per pair. This is so no longer, facilities in railroad transportation and their continued abundance at the West rendering them a comparatively plentiful and cheap article of food.

Mr. Audubon mentions that at the same period they were still to be met with in some portions of New Jersey, in the “brushy” plains of Long Island, on Mount Desert Island in the State of Maine, and also in another tract of barren country near Mar’s Hill in the same State. In regard to the two last-named localities he may have been misinformed.

Mr. Lawrence mentions this species as still occurring in the vicinity of New York City. Mr. Turnbull mentioned it as now very rare, but occasionally met with, in the counties of Monroe and Northampton in Pennsylvania, and on the plains in New Jersey. It is not referred to by either Professor Verrill or Mr. Boardman as occurring in any part of Maine. It is, however, given by Mr. McIlwraith as an occasional visitor near Hamilton, in Canada, on the western frontier, a few individuals being occasionally observed along the banks of the St. Clair River, but not known to occur farther east.

Mr. Audubon also mentions having found these birds abundant in all the vast plains bordering on the prairies of the Arkansas River, and on those of the Opelousas in Louisiana.

In the earliest days of spring, even before the snows have all been melted, these birds no longer keep in large flocks, but separate into smaller parties, and the mating-season commences, during which their manners, especially those of the male, are very peculiar and striking. A particular locality is selected, to which they resort until incubation has commenced. The males meet in this place, and engage in furious battle with one another. At this season they are especially conspicuous for their great pomposity of bearing; with tails outspread and inclined forward to meet the expanded feathers of their neck, and with the globular, orange-colored, bladder-like receptacles of air on their necks distended to their utmost capacity, and issuing a peculiar sound, spoken of as booming, these birds strut about in the presence of one another with various manifestations of jealous dislike and animosity, soon ending in furious contests. Their wings are declined, in the manner of the Cock-Turkey, and rustle on the ground as the birds pass and repass in a rapid manner; their bodies are depressed, and their notes indicate their intense excitement. Upon the appearance of a female answering to their calls, they at once engage in their desperate encounters. They rise in the air and strike at one another in the manner of a gamecock, and several engage in a miscellaneous scrimmage, until the weaker give way, and, one after another, seek refuge in the neighboring bushes, the few remaining victors discontinuing their contests as if from sheer exhaustion.

The “booming” or “tooting” sounds made by these birds is heard before daybreak, and also at all hours before sunset, in places where they are abundant and tame; but where they are rare and wild they are seldom heard after sunrise, and their meetings then are in silence. Even in the fall the young males evince their natural pugnacity by engaging in short battles, which their parents usually interrupt and put a stop to.

This bird nests, according to the locality in which it is met with, from the beginning of April to the last of May. In Kentucky, Mr. Audubon has found their nests with eggs early in April, but the average period there was the first of May. Their nests he describes as somewhat carelessly formed of dry leaves and grasses, interwoven in a tolerably neat manner, and always very carefully placed among the tall grass of some large tuft in the open ground of the prairies, or, in barren lands, at the foot of a small bush.

The eggs are said to be from eight to twelve in number, never more; they are larger and more spherical than those of the common umbellus, and are of a darker shade. The female sits upon them about twenty days, and as soon as the young can extricate themselves from the shell the mother leads them away, the male having previously left her.

Early in the fall the various broods begin again to associate together, and at the approach of winter it is not uncommon to see them in flocks of several hundred individuals.

The young broods, when come upon suddenly and taken by surprise, instantly scatter and squat close to the ground, so that, without a dog, it is impossible to find them. The mother gives a single loud chuck as a signal of danger, and the young birds rise on the wing and fly a few yards in different directions, and then keep themselves perfectly still and quiet until the mother recalls them by a signal indicating that the peril has passed. In the meanwhile she resorts to various devices to draw the intruder away from the place.

This Grouse raises but a single brood in a season; and if the first laying has been destroyed or taken, the female seeks out her mate, makes another nest, and produces another set of eggs. These are usually smaller in size and less in number than those of her first laying.

The Pinnated Grouse is said to be easily tamed, and may be readily domesticated, though I do not know that the experiment has been thoroughly tried. Mr. Audubon once kept sixty of them in a garden near Henderson, Ky. Within a week they became tame enough to allow him to approach them without being frightened. He supplied them with abundance of corn and other food. In the course of the winter they became so gentle as to feed from the hand, and walked about his garden like so many tame fowl, mingling occasionally with the poultry. In the spring they strutted, “tooted,” and fought as if in their wild state. Many eggs were deposited, and a number of young birds were hatched out; but they proved so destructive to the vegetables that the experiment was given up and the Grouse were killed. The male birds were conspicuous for their courage, and would engage in contest with the Turkey-cocks, and even with the dunghill cock, rather than yield the ground.

In severe weather these birds have been known to roost in trees, but they generally prefer to rest on the ground. Advantage is sometimes taken to secure them by visiting their resting-places in the night with nets. On the ground they walk somewhat in the manner of the common Hen, but in a more erect attitude. When surprised, they rise with a whirring sound; but if they perceive the approach of any one at a sufficient distance, they run off with considerable speed, and hide by squatting in the grass or among bushes. They are fond of dusting themselves in ploughed fields or in dusty roads, rearranging their feathers in the manner of the Wild Turkey.

When the female, with her young brood, is surprised, she instantly ruffles up her feathers, and acts as if she contemplated flying in your face; this she rarely, if ever, attempts, but resorts to various artifices to decoy the intruder away.

Their flight is said to be strong, regular, and swift, and may be protracted to the distance of several miles. It is less rapid than that of the umbellus, and the whirring, as they rise from the ground, less conspicuous. As they rise, they utter four or five very distinct clucks, but at times fly in silence.

Their flesh is dark, and the flavor is very distinctly gamy, and is generally regarded as excellent.

In the love-season the males inflate the two remarkable air-bladders, which, in color and shape, resemble small oranges, lower their heads to the ground, open their bills, and give utterance to very singular and distinctly separated notes, by means of the air contained in these receptacles, rolling somewhat in the manner of the beatings of a muffled drum. The air-reservoirs are alternately filled and emptied as they make these sounds. Their notes may be heard to the distance of nearly a mile. When these skins are punctured, they are no longer resonant.