prairie hen (prarihen)

(a) The pinnated grouse, Cupid on i a or Tympanuchus cupido, a gallinaceous bird of North America belonging to the family Tetraonidæ; or ( b ) the sharp-tailed grouse, Pediœcetes phasianellus columbia nus. See cuts under Cupid on i a and Pediæcetes. The range of these two different birds, though somewhat overlapping, especially of late years, is complementary. The true prairie-hen or pinnated grouse belongs properly to the fertile prairies of the United States, especially Illinois, Iowa, Mi ouri, the eastern half of Minnesota, South Dakota (especially eastward), middle and eastern Kansas and Nebraska, Arkansas, and eastern Texas-a variety ( pallid i cinct a ) occurring in western Texas. It also still lingers in some localities in the Middle States and New England; but with the settlement of the country it has followed the railroads, as these have been pushed westward and northwestward, to the Rocky Mountains and far up the Mi ouri river. The sharp-tailed grouse, the prairie-hen or-chicken of the Northwest, locally called white belly, is a bird of more arid regions, resembling the sage-grouse in this respect, and its eastward range has contracted with the extension of the pinnated grouse westward. It is found in suitable country of the central plateau to the Sierra Nevadas of California and the Cascade ranges of Oregon and Washington, and northward in much of British America, where it occurs in its typical form, Pediœcetes phasianellus, as distinguished from the United States variety called columbia nus. prairie-marmot (pra'ri-mär mot), n. The prai rie-dog. prairie-mole (pra'ri-mol), n. The silvery shrew mole, Scalops aquatic us argent at us, a variety of the common mole of the United States occurring on the prairies. prairie-oyster (prā'ri-ois"tėr), n. Same as prai ric - cocktail. prairie-pigeon (prā'ri-pijon), n. 1. The American golden plover, Charadrius dominicus. Also called prairie - plover and prairie - snipe. 2. Bartram's sandpiper, Bartramia long i cauda. This bird abounds on the fertile alluvial prairies from Indiana and Illinois to the Dakotas, but not on the arid plains further west. prairie-plover (prā'ri-pluv"ėr), n. prairie - pigeon, 1. Same as of several different rattlesnakes inhabiting the prairies, as the ma asauga, Sistrurus catenatus, and especially Crotal us confluent us, the most common and widely distributed rattler in the West. prairie-rose (prā'ri-rōz), п. A wild rose, Rosa setigera, of the interior United States, the only American climbing rose. The flowers are large, in flat corymbs, and of a deep rose-color when first expanded. This is the original of the queen-of-the-prairie, Baltimore belle, and other double roses. Also called Michigan rose. See cut under rose. The