Biography 45 



a part of them. Let us take the two that have remained together 

 —the mother and one young one. 



Not far down the hill from their home woodland toward the farm 

 in the \ alley below, was an old apple orchard. Between it and the 

 woods ran an overgrown fence-row, with gray dogwood, wild apple, 

 thomapple, black cherry and wild grape growing in tangled pro- 

 fusion. This was just the place for the grouse to be feeding this crisp, 

 sunny October morning— either along the woods edge, in the or- 

 chard, or in the hedge-row between. An experienced grouse hunter 

 would recognize this almost as well as a grouse. So it was not sur- 

 prising when two hunters, well bedecked in their red plaid hunting 

 garments, came up the hill from the farm, straight toward the or- 

 chard. Three beats across the orchard convinced them that no grouse 

 were there. One of the hunters was particularly slow and deliberate, 

 examining carefully each likely bit of cover for fresh sign. They 

 turned up the hill again, one on each side of the hedge-row, working 

 carefully towards the woods. 



Just about fifty feet along the fence-row was a clump of thorn- 

 apple loaded with fruit, and it was here that the two grouse had been 

 feeding. They saw the two tall creatures coming and, true to their in- 

 stincts and experience, crouched motionless on the ground until 

 they should go away. But these were not ordinary adversaries. Just 

 as they were about to pass the birds, one of the men gave a kick at 

 the low-hanging thorn branches. With a terrific whir of wings, the 

 startled birds burst into the air. Swinging out of the obstructing 

 hedge-row on the side opposite the hunter who had flushed them, 

 they made a splendid shot for his companion. The gun blazed twice, 

 and one of the birds crumpled to the ground. The other, having ex- 

 perienced one hunting season before, had cut sharply back to the 

 top of the hedge and on into the woods just at the critical moment, 

 causing the shot to go wild. She flew far out of sight into the woods, 

 coming to rest high in a clump of protecting hemlocks. From past 

 experience, this was the safest place to avoid a repetition of the 

 death-dealing flight of lead. 



With each escape from the hunters' bullets the grouse becomes 

 more wary and more able to make a successful getaway. This ability 

 to dodge shot and baffle hunters has been developed in a relatively 

 short time. Wilderness grouse even today sometimes exhibit the 

 fool-hen characteristics that most grouse possessed when the white 



