The Ruffed Grouse: 



A SEMI-SOLILOQUY. 



A WHIR of wings, 



And quickly springs 

 From under cover dark and deep — 

 From out a hillside rough and steep, 



With startled air 



Like frightened hare — 

 A Grouse — how quick he's gone ! 



I stop — stand still, 

 And then a thrill 

 Of pleasure passes through my frame - 

 A thrill at sight of stately game : 

 The bird of fame, 

 With noble name ! — 

 A wild, shy thing, I ween. 



He 's gone. He went 



As if were lent 

 To him the storied wings of wind ; 

 He left me in the woods behind 



Alone — with naught 



Save what was wrought 

 By fantastic fancy. 



I walk me on, 



And birds, anon. 

 Flit up before me in my path, — 

 Flit up before me from their bath 



In some clear brook, 



Whose shady nook 

 Is down amid the ferns. 



' T is quiet now ; 



No leaflets bow 

 To breezes cool ; all Nature 's dumb. 

 Except the ceaseless buzz and hum 



Of insect hosts. 



Whose flitting ghosts — 

 Unseen — are kings in air. 



But hark ! I hear 



A sound, and near : 

 A rising, slow and measured sound — 

 A heating in the still profound. 



It rises fast. 



And now, at last 

 ' T is one continued roll. 



Slogilti 



JULY, 1879. 



No. I. 



Now faint it grows, 



Then in repose 

 It sinks, till all is still again. 

 Methinks it came from yonder glen, 



And was the hum — 



The restless drum — 

 Of some majestic Grouse. 



A clump of dark 



Deep ferns I mark ; 

 Certainly I heard a rustle — 

 A moving, scratching, a bustle ; 



Mayhap a bird 



That sudd'nly stirred 

 And rustled in the leaves. 



Behind a bush 



My way I push. 

 With eye on ev'ry move intent ; 

 With senses keen and eager bent 



To catch, perchance, 



A passing glance 

 At what was 'mong the ferns. 



With stealthy ti-ead 



And lifted head 

 Comes forth a Grouse, and in her wake, 

 Nine little ones themselves betake : 



God's proteges, 



Whom he arrays 

 In garbs of daintiest brown. 



Oological Jottings from our 

 Note-book. 



— A Robin's Nest Record. 



April 24. — Robins commenced building 

 a nest in a spruce tree ; no work done on 

 the 25. 



2G. — Bisds were not to be seen until af- 

 ternoon, when the female put in part of the 

 lining. 



27. — The lining still being put in, tramp- 

 led down and arranged by the female. She 

 took such a heavy load of grasses on the 2t> 

 that she reached her nest only after several 



