392 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



trees ; and, when all other food is covered with snow, they 

 eat dried pieces of apples that are left hanging on the trees, 

 mosses, and leaves of the laurel. It is after feeding on this 

 last plant that their flesh becomes dangerous to be eaten ; 

 and it is always safe not to eat these birds in winter, if they 

 have been killed for any great length of time, or if their 

 intestines and crops have been left in them. 



One habit that this species has is, I believe, peculiar to 

 it ; and that is its manner of diving into the deep snow 

 to pass the night in cold weather : this it does very fre- 

 quently, and its snowy covering affords it a warm and 

 effectual protection. But if it rains during the night, and 

 then the weather changes to freezing, the Grouse, imprisoned 

 beneath the crust that forms on the surface of the snow, 

 soon dies ; and it is noticed, that, in seasons after winters 

 when the weather frequently changes from raining to freez- 

 ing, there is a scarcity of these birds. It is a common 

 occurrence to find them, in the spring, dead, having perished 

 in this manner. 



