6 Bird -Lore 



the settler. The three birds ah-eady dealt with are killed for food, but this one, 

 I believe, is rarely eaten, owinjij probably to the flavor imparted by its diet. 

 It is also rather stupid, and when perched in the trees is sometimes knocked 

 over with a stick. The nest is generally well hidden under the spreading 

 branches of a spruce tree and, when the eggs have hatched, the females try to 

 draw an intruder from the vicinity by feigning injury — a habit common to 

 the other Grouse I have mentioned. 



Canada has made excellent laws for the protection of her game birds, and 

 if these laws are rigidly enforced she will long continue to retain them. Increasing 

 po])ulation should not afl'ect her Grouse; for the species found on the prairie, 

 at any rate, benelit rather than lose by the development of the agricultural 

 ])ossibilities of the country. The woodland Grouse suffer a little by the removal 

 of the timber, but the inroads made are gradual, and there will always be places 

 suitable for them where cultivation is impossible. It is the late brush fires in 

 the spring, carelessly allowed to get out of control, which reduce the ranks of 

 the Ruffed and Spruce Grouse; and game laws are futile unless this very serious 

 evil can be remedied. 



PRAIRIE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE SUNNING ITSELF IN THE SNOW 



