64 Bird -Lore 



the air. While he performs this act, the bird throws itself into various curious 

 and fantastic positions, which one would never expect of a Ruffed Grouse. 



Obviously, the drumming is a mating call; though it is quite possible that 

 it may also be a challenge. It is performed in autumn as well as in spring. 

 It is said that on occasions sportsmen, by imitating the drumming sound, have 

 caused Grouse in the woods to come to them. 



The Grouse's nest is made, and she begins to lay her eggs, in May; and it 

 is early June, or the middle of the month, before the tiny young have hatched. 



When the brood leaves the nest, there may be from a dozen to 

 Nesting twenty of the little fellows, hardly as large as one's thumb, 



very active on their feet, and covered with a silky, tawny down 

 of various shades. Only by the merest accident and the greatest good fortune 

 can one hope to see one of these little families, and to watch it undisturbed. 

 Usually, if they have any warning, the tiny chicks squat motionless among 

 the dead leaves on the ground, where they escape notice; while the anxious 

 mother, pretending to be hurt and unable to fly, flutters along the ground, 

 trying to lead the enemy to pursue her and to leave the young ones. The 

 ruse is almost always successful. Dog, boy, and man are quite sure to be 

 deceived, and to follow the fluttering bird, which acts as if she were sorely 

 hurt and could be seized the next moment ; but, after she has enticed the pur- 

 suer away from the point of danger, she takes wing and flies swiftly ofif 

 among the tree trunks. 



Once, passing quietly through some big woods, I saw, beyond a little rise 

 only a few steps distant, a dark spot on the leaves, which I recognized as a 



mother Grouse with outspread wings hovering her brood. She 

 Young was as much surprised as I, and, losing her presence of mind, 



flew at once, while from the place where she had been nesting 

 fifteen or twenty tiny young streamed out in every direction. Most of these 

 I at once lost sight of, but on one I kept my eye, and presently, taking two or 

 three steps forward, picked it up from the ground. It crouched on my palm, 

 unafraid, looking at me with a bright, soft eye. Perhaps it was a week old, for 

 the quills of the wings were about a quarter of an inch in length. Putting it 

 down on the leaves, we slowly withdrew to a little knoll, forty or fifty feet dis- 

 tant, and there listened and watched for the mother bird, which soon came 

 creeping cautiously through the undergrowth until within a few feet of where 

 her babies had been left. There she mounted a stump and talked to them 

 in low notes, and there we left her, easy in mind, I hope, about the little family. 

 When autumn comes, and berries and seeds are ripe, and brown nuts rattle 

 down from the chestnut trees, or the wind scatters three-cornered beech nuts 



among the thick leaves, the Rufted Grouse live well and become 

 W^inteV" sturdy and fat, preparing for the winter. Their feathers thicken, 



the hair-like covering on the legs gets long and warm, and from 

 the side of the toes grow out little horny comb-like appendages, which perhaps 



