. Guide leaflet. sacs at eitherside of the neck, spreading the tail, dropping the wings and struttinglike a turkey cock. The nest is a slight affair, usually placed beneath sagebrush, whereit is often found by a marauding coyote. The hens hatch the eggs andraise the young unaided by the male, which, when its mate begins to sit,joins with others of its sex to form flocks composed only of males. When the young are grown the sexes mingle in great bands, whichformerly contained thousands of birds. The birds drink night andmorning at some regularly frequented spring, about which they some-times gat
. Guide leaflet. sacs at eitherside of the neck, spreading the tail, dropping the wings and struttinglike a turkey cock. The nest is a slight affair, usually placed beneath sagebrush, whereit is often found by a marauding coyote. The hens hatch the eggs andraise the young unaided by the male, which, when its mate begins to sit,joins with others of its sex to form flocks composed only of males. When the young are grown the sexes mingle in great bands, whichformerly contained thousands of birds. The birds drink night andmorning at some regularly frequented spring, about which they some-times gather so thickly that they must await their turn to reach thewater. This fine grouse is rapidly decreasing in numbers and unless ade-quately protected will ere long be numbered among the lost Bpecies. The studies for this group were made at Medicine B »w, Wyoming,on the line of the Union Pacific Railway. The mountain to the rightis Klk Mountain; those in the distance belong to the Snowy Range t*( 2 2 < cu uX H OO z o w §h so o W 0) « 26. THE PRAIRIE HEN IN NEBRASKA OX frosty spring mornings, as the sun rises over the prairies, onemay at times hear a singular, resonant, booming note, boom-ah-b-o-o-w, boom-ahrb-O-O-m. It is the love-song pf the PrairieHen. He may be near at hand or possibly two miles away, so far doesthis sound, unobstructed by tree or hill, carry in the clear air. It is wellworth following, for we may find the maker of it, with perhaps ten tofifty of his kind, engaged in a most remarkable performance. During the mating season, from March until early in May, thePrairie Hens of a certain district or area gather before daybreak to takepart in these courtship demonstrations. The feather-tufts on eitherside of the neck are erected like horns, the tail raised and spread, thewings dropped, when the bird first rushes forward a few steps, pauses,inflates its orange-like air-sacs, and, with a violent, jerking, musculareffort, produces the startling boom,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectnatural, bookyear1901
