THE OOLOOI8T. 



153 



ten found in swales and low, wet 

 wocds of hemlock, pine, etc.; also in 

 birch thickets, and are seen occasion- 

 ally during September and October 

 feeding on the berries of the Winter- 

 berry, a bush that grows along the 

 edges cf rivers and streams. 



On entering the woods look for 

 them on logs or brush piles or on the 

 ground under bushes, also among 

 brambleberry bushes or dead ferns 

 out in the open. In the latter case 

 their plumage harmonizes so well with 

 their surroundings, trusting as they 

 do to the dead leaves and ferns, that 

 one may approach quite near to them 

 before they take wing. 



In September and October they 

 feed in beech trees on beech nuts and 

 in poplar trees on leaves as well as 

 on the ground for clover leaves, wild 

 berries of many different kinds 

 whether ripe or green. The green ber- 

 ries are eaten by them when ripe ber- 

 ries are to be had. Insects also form 

 part of their food. 



In the cold weather they often 

 come out on the edges of woods or 

 clearings to sun themselves or to 

 have a dust bath to rid themselves of 

 lice or other vermin. 



During rain they seek shelter un- 

 der bushes or in trees. 



When a human being approaches 

 near, both male and female partridges 

 make a sort of hissing sound which 

 sounds most like wheat, wheat, wheat, 

 rapidly repeated. Sometimes a male 

 partridge, if he has been hunted a 

 few times and has become wild, will 

 whistle (I have never heard the fe- 

 male whistle), as an inti'uder tries to 

 see him through the overhanging 

 branches or through the bushes 

 catches even a glimiTse, he will in- 

 stantly flv with a whirr from his 

 wings in«^ the air like a rocket, fly- 

 ing sometimes into a tree, but is most 

 likely to fly but a short distance only 

 to drop into cover again and run ra- 



pidly along the ground for a few 

 yards and hide until all danger is 

 past. 



Ruffed Grouse are more abundant 

 some years than others, as hard win- 

 ters and wet springs, besides foxes 

 and squirrels and ether animals have 

 much to do to decrease their numbers. 



Observations on the Ruffed Grouse 

 were made in Muskoka, Ont. 



GEORGE GERALD, 



Toronto, Can. 



A White-eyed Vireo's Peculiar Method 

 of Feeding. 



On September 6, 1906, I saw a 

 White-eyed Vireo at Wissinoming, 

 Pa., feeding in a unique manner. When 

 first seen the bird was searching for 

 food low down in the shrubs along a 

 bush-fringed running brook, and was 

 not particularly observed as it exhib- 

 ited no unusual traits or habits. I 

 was just about to turn my attention 

 to some other bird which I heard in 

 a pile of brush behind me, when to my 

 astonishment the Vireo deliberately 

 plunged from its perch — a small alder 

 shrub on the brink of the brook — in- 

 to the water, returning almost imme- 

 diately to its perch, where it sat for 

 several seconds, and then made an- 

 other plunge. This it repeated a third 

 time, after a brief rest. The plunges 

 only partially submerged the bird, 

 but the immersions were brief, as they 

 were performed kingfisher fashion — 

 head first into the water. 



After the third plunge the bird 

 preened its feathers, flying into the 

 bushes as I approached to ascertain 

 the cause of its unusual method of 

 feeding, for such I inferred it had 

 been doing. 



The water of the stream where the 

 bird made its puzzling' plunges was 

 fairly covered with Water "Striders" 

 (Ilygrotrechus remigis) and Gyrinus 



