1. An ancient sea of grass -- 2. The biotic communities of the central plains -- 3. Lessons in survival -- 4. Broad wings over short grass : Swainson's and Ferruginous hawks -- 5. Dawn dances on the prairie : prairie-chickens and sharp-tailed grouse -- 6. Shorebird sagas : long-billed curlew, marbled godwit, and upland sandpiper -- 7. High drama on the high plains : prairie falcons, mountain plovers, and prairie dogs -- 8. Meadows and marshes : northern harrier, Wilson's plovers, and prairie dogs -- 9. The silent hunters of dusk : burrowing and short-eared owls -- 10. A lark by any name : meadowlarks, horned lark, and lark sparrow -- 11. Music over the shrubsteppe : McCown's and chestnut-collared longspurs ; lark bunting -- 12. Furtive sparrows in the grass : clay-colored, grasshopper, and vesper -- 13. Songs of the Northern prairies : Sprague's pipit, bobolink, and Savannah and Baird's sparrows -- 14. The peripheral seed-eaters : Dickcissel, Henslow's, Cassin's, and Brewer's sparrows -- 15. Conclusion : the disappearing prairie and its declining avifauna.