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Show help these birds should be supported sup-ported by all interested in wildlife wild-life conservation. Nature Magazine Maga-zine will run a feature article on the subject in its May issue. Your support of the Federation by purchasing pur-chasing your wildlife stamps does much to help the Prairie Chicken in 1953, just as a similar campaign in 1952 helped the Key Deer of Florida. UJIll TKAIKIE CHICKEN Many well meaning conservationists conserva-tionists spend much useless energy bemoaning the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon, the Heath Hen and the Dodo. They cannot possibly poss-ibly bring back these extinct birds. How much more sensible is the 'effort now being spent by the National Na-tional Wildlife Federation to pre vent the disappearance of the Prairie Chicken. To call public attention to the plight of this bird, the Federation has selected the Prairie Chicken as the symbol for National Wildlife Week, March 15-21. 15-21. The Prairie Chicken is the king of native game birds of the grassy and shrubby interior of America just as the Turkey was the king of the wooded East and South's game birds. The Turkey is gradually grad-ually increasing in numbers. Possibly Pos-sibly a similar trend may be started start-ed for the open country bird. The difficulty here lies in the fact that the Prairie Chicken cannot survive unless a quarter or more of the range for a stable population is left free from cultivation, overgrazing, over-grazing, burning, or too - close mowing. Unless proper habitat is maintained main-tained the birds die out no matter what the hunting pressure may be. Unless grassy cover at least 6 eggs in a nest on the ground and rears the family of the year. When the young become grown they separate sep-arate and flocks of hens or cocks take up a relatively independent existence. There may be a slight southward migration in the fall but this is usually limited to the females. The summer food is largely insects in-sects such as grasshoppers but tender plants are also eaten ir abundance. Waste grain is the major ma-jor autumn food and the fruits ol shrubs or the buds of some tree: help the birds survive the winter The Federation's campaign t inches deep is available for nesting nest-ing and for winter protection, the birds are probably doomed. While pheasants have a future in prosperous pros-perous farm lands, the Prairie Chicken's hope lies in an increase and stabilization of grasslands before be-fore its fate is sealed. The Prairie Chicken is related to the Grouse and Ptarmigan. Wild Turkeys belong in another family and the Pheasants, Quail and Hungarian Partridges to still another. The Greater Prairie Chicken, Chic-ken, to be found from Indiana to Oklahoma on the south and from Michigan to North Dakota, weighs about 2 pounds, has a length of over 17 inches and a wingspread of 28 inches. It is slightly shorter than the Sharp-tailed Grouse, has a blunter tail that lacks the white of the Sharp-tailed Grouse. It is also more heavily barred particularly partic-ularly beneath than this close relative. rel-ative. The Lesser Prairie Chicken, pictured pic-tured here, is a somewhat smaller bird. Its range is in the short-grass country of Western Kansas, Oklahoma, Okla-homa, Texas and New Mexico. An elaborate spring courtship and a less enthusiastic fall session brings, from 30 to 40 males to a courtship ground at sunrise or dusk. To a few of the assembled swain go all of the rewards of the season. The female lays about a dozen |