258 BIRDS OF FIELD, FOREST AND PARK 



the soil is sandy and dry. Here a mother 

 Grouse and her family take their daily dust 

 bath, and I have often tried to catch them at 

 this interesting and necessary process. Several 

 times I have met them about the trails and their 

 movements are always amusing. The young are 

 now about the size of two-weeks-old chickens, 

 and, when alarmed, some fly with a directness 

 and precision which suggests the wonderful 

 powers of flight they will a little later attain; 

 others hide in the leaves and moss, the mother 

 meanwhile gliding about with a peculiar noise 

 much like the whining of a puppy. But if I 

 conceal myself they quickly assemble again and 

 the search for food goes on. This is the Canadian 

 Ruffed Grouse, a bird which differs from the 

 Ruffed Grouse found further south, having the 

 bars on the under parts more distinct and a 

 decided grayish tone instead of rufous above. 

 So far as I have been able to observe, the only 

 difference between this sub-variety and his well 

 known brother, the Ruffed Grouse of New Eng- 

 land and the Middle States, is the slight varia- 

 tion in color. In mating and nesting habits, 

 pose, form and flight, they are exactly alike. 

 As happens in the case of nearly all dwellers of 

 deep woods away from the daily haunts of man, 

 the northern variety is very tame, more like 

 barnyard fowl than game birds of the woods. 

 This year at the foot of Mt. Katahdin, near the 

 end of August, we came upon a flock, the young 

 well grown and so tame that we could have hit 

 them with our climbing sticks. They did not 

 fly, but after walking about and eyeing us 



