Greater Prairie Chicken

The greater prairie-chicken or pinnated grouse (Tympanuchus cupido), sometimes called a boomer, is a large bird in the grouse tribe. This North American species was once abundant but has become extremely rare or extirpated over much of its range due to habitat loss, natural disasters, and overhunting. Conservation measures are underway to ensure the sustainability of existing small populations. One of the most famous aspects of these creatures is the mating ritual called booming.

Carl Linnaeus based his account on the "Le Cocq de bois d'Amerique" that had been described and illustrated by the English naturalist Mark Catesby in his book The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. Catesby had seen greater prairie-chickens in 1743 at the home of the Earl of Wilmington in the then village of Chiswick, 7 mi (11 km) west of London. The Earl believed that that his birds had come from North America but did not know from where. Linnaeus specified the type locality as Virginia but this has been changed to Pennsylvania by the American Ornithologists' Union.