'A GROUSE . 



ALIGHTED ON AN OLD LOG ALMOST AT MY FEET" 



Grouse Camp-Mates 



• By ROY CHAPMAN ANDREWS 



With photographs by the author 



ON JULY 8, Courtenay Brandreth, my wife and 1, went to Shingle 

 Shanty stream on the Brandreth Preserve in the Adirondacks, to 

 select a spot for a summer's camp. While I was poking about in 

 some high grass, trying to find a dry passage across a bit of swamp land, a 

 Grouse suddenly flew out of a balsam tree and alighted on an old log almost 

 at my feet. 



I was too startled to move at first, and too excited, for there was no doubt 

 that it was a Spruce Grouse, now so rare, at least in this portion of the Adiron- 

 dacks, that one has not been seen in years on the Brandreth Preserve. 



While I crouched in the grass and endeavored to unsling the kodak from my 

 back, I heard a gentle peeping, like the call of a young Turkey, and a baby 

 Grouse, five or six inches long, hopped on the log beside its mother. In a 

 moment two others joined her, and then all four slipped off in the grass and 

 began to feed. I got a snapshot at about twelve feet, and with infinite caution 

 began to work nearer, taking pictures as fast as the camera could be operated. 



(439) 



