Extending over the Great Plains from western and probably southern
Texas northward through Indian Territory to Kansas is said to be the
habitation of the Lesser Prairie Hen, though it is not fully known. It
inhabits the fertile prairies, seldom frequenting the timbered lands,
except during sleety storms, or when the ground is covered with snow.
Its flesh is dark and it is not very highly esteemed as a table bird.
The habits of these birds are similar to those of the Prairie Hen.
During the early breeding season they feed upon grasshoppers, crickets,
and other forms of insect life, but afterwards upon cultivated grains,
gleaned from the stubble in autumn and the corn fields in winter. They
are also fond of tender buds, berries, and fruits. When flushed, these
birds rise from the ground with a less whirring sound than the Ruffed
Grouse or Bob White, and their flight is not as swift, but more
protracted, and with less apparent effort, flapping and sailing along,
often to the distance of a mile or more. In the fall the birds come
together, and remain in flocks until the warmth of spring awakes the
passions of love; then, in the language of Col. Goss, as with a view to
fairness and the survival of the fittest, they select a smooth, open
courtship ground, usually called a scratching ground, where the males
assemble at the early dawn, to vie with each other in carnage and
pompous display, uttering at the same time their love call, a loud,
booming noise. As soon as this is heard by the hen birds desirous of
mating, they quietly appear, squat upon the ground, apparently
indifferent observers, until claimed by victorious rivals, whom they
gladly accept, and whose caresses they receive. Audubon states that
the vanquished and victors alike leave the grounds to search for the
females, but he omits to state that many are present, and mate upon the
"scratching grounds."
The nest of the Prairie Hen is placed on the ground in the thick prairie
grass and at the foot of bushes when the earth is barren; a hollow is
scratched in the soil, and sparingly lined with grasses and a few
feathers. There are from eight to twelve eggs, tawny brown, sometimes
with an olive hue and occasionally sprinkled with brown.
During the years 1869 and 1870, while the writer was living in
southwestern Kansas, which was then the far west, Prairie Chickens as
they were called there, were so numerous that they were rarely used for
food by the inhabitants, and as there was then no readily accessible
market the birds were slaughtered for wanton sport.
[Illustration: From col. Chi. Acad. Sciences.
LESSER PRAIRIE HEN.
Copyright by
Nature Study Pub. Co., 1898, Chicago.]