CHARACTERISTIC OF THE FEMALE 291 



pled during most of the summer, it was finally found to have regained its ability to fly by late 

 August. 



Renesting 



Since the latent ability of a female grouse to produce eggs* usually exceeds the number 

 comprising her first clutch, hens, whose initial attempt is broken-up, often try again. Each 

 year, while the great majority of the successful nests in a locality hatch within a few days 

 of one another, a few are incubated much later and hatch on widely separated dates. Similar 

 evidence is also found in the occurrence of broods which are much younger than the average. 



For this purpose, a new site is invariably chosen. And the number of eggs laid is normally 

 less than before, averaging 7.5, although as many as 11 have been recorded. 



The probability of a second effort of this kind is greatest when the first clutch is destroyed 

 before it is complete or before incubation has progressed very far. That it may. however, occur 

 considerably later was demonstrated in 1940 when a brood of six chicks, not over three days 

 old. was found July 24. The female of this brood must have begun to lay her final clutch 

 about June 16. On another occasion, a renesl hal( hed July 1 or 2, and a third hen incubated 

 until July 5 before abandoning a clutch of infertile eggs. 



There is no indication that third attempts are ever made. 



Lack of Second Broods 



In the region covered by this Investigation, individual female grouse have but one brood 

 a year. The same is true throughout the range of the species, so far as is known. Normal 

 first nests hatch in late May or early June and the subsequent broods regularly remain to- 

 gether until September or October. 



The discovery, now and then, of late broods has led to the misconception by some that 

 second broods were produced. Actually such observations merely represent birds which re- 

 nested^ after their first clutch of eggs had been destroyed. 



Relation to Brood 



Bold and timid at once, the grouse is one of the most courageous of the "mothers of the 

 wild", especially during the early days of the brood period. 



Defense of Chicks 



The impulse to protect her brood from harm becomes stronger and stronger during incu- 

 bation and reaches its peak at the time the eggs hatch and immediately thereafter. Should 

 she be molested at this time, she may either confront the intruder belligerently or endeavor 

 to lure him away by a ruse. While the chicks or hatching eggs are still in the nest, the 

 female most often resorts to the broken-wing "stunt" in an effort to divert attention from 

 them. Being highly precocial, the chicks leave the nest within a few hours after hatching. 

 For the next week or ten days, when danger threatens, they immediately take advantage of 

 whatever shelter is at hand and "freeze". On such occasions, for the first three or four 

 days, the female gives a warning call to her brood and at the same time faces the intruder 

 "with blood in her eye". Ruffling out her feathers and half spreading her wings, she usually 

 utters a loud squeal, apparently to distract his attention. Again she may rush at him. hiss- 

 ing menacingly as she comes. Birds have been known to actually fly into the faces of per- 



* See Chapter VHI, p. 360. 



A See discussion under Reneating above. 



