KIFFET) GROrSE. HI 



tlicy ine;in ta tliosc wIkj love tliciu ^ The pi-oinise of 

 Spring, its fulfillment in sunnner, is clearly told in Bob- 

 white's greeting. Then, in the jiutunin. when the mem- 

 bers of a scattered bevy are sii^nalin*; each other, their 

 sweet where are you f wJitre are you ? is equally associated 

 with the season. 



Tiie Bob-white nests about May 20, laying from ten 

 to eighteen white eggs in a nest on the ground. 



The Rulfed Grouse, or Partridge of the North and 

 T^heasant of tlie South, is properly a true Grouse, and 

 Ruffed Grouse *^*'^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ correctly called either Par- 

 Bonam umheiiux. tridge or Pheasant. lie is a more 

 Plate XII. northern bird than the Bob-white, be- 



ing f()un<l south of \^irginia only in the Alleghanies. 

 Re(piiring large tracts of woodland for his haunts, he 

 is less generally distributed and not so connnon as his 

 plump relative. 



I always associate the Grouse with the astounding 

 roar of wings made by the bird as he springs from the 

 ground at my feet and sails away through the forest. I 

 watch him at first with dazed surprise, then with a keen 

 sense of pleasure in the meeting. One need not be a 

 sportsman to appreciate the gaminess of the Grouse. 



To find a hen Grouse with young is a memorable 

 experience. AVhile the ])arent is giving us a lesson in 

 mother-love and bird intelligence, her downy chicks are 

 teaching ns facts in protective coloration and heredity. 

 How the old one limps and liutters I She can barely 

 draii' herself alon<r the <j:roun(l. But while we are watch- 

 ing her, what lias become of the ten or a dozen little 

 yellow balls we almost stepped on i Not a feather do 

 we see, until, poking a])out in the leaves, we lind one 

 little chap hiding here and another s(|uatting there, all 

 ])erfectly still, and so like the leaves in color as to be 

 nearlv invisible. 



