25 + 



Bird- Lore 



Thebird gives one the impression of admirable adaptation to the open country, — 

 a large, muscular, hardy, vigorous bird, able to withstand snow and sleet, in size 

 equal or even exceeding the Rufifed Grouse in weight. Inhabiting open fields 

 and pastures, subsisting on insects, leaves, seeds and wild berries, in a country 

 where the absence of foxes and raccoons reduces the numbers of its enemies prac- 

 tically to cats, men, skunks, field-mice and rarely some species of hawks, the 

 problem of maintaining and bringing back the bird to its former abundance 

 seems practicable. 



Of the total number, twenty-one, which we observed on Ma\- i and 2, twenty 

 were plainly males; of the sex of one we were uncertain. 



On June 4, a set of nine Heath Hen's eggs was taken and placed under a ban- 

 tam hen, selected for this purpose because she appeared to be unusually tract- 

 able; but on June 20, when one of the chicks hatched it was immediately killed 

 bv the hen, which attacked it viciouslv before it was entirelv out of the shell. The 



, HE AMERICAN AH 

 tK^ "ii; shown hi situ in the p.^^^v 

 Photographed by J. Otis Wheelock 



1 L RAL HISTORY 



lion 



