114 



THE OOLOGIST. 



his christian spirit toward the tribe iu 

 a baptism of cold lead: I mean should 

 try to approach him here after he has 

 been once frightened from his hiding 

 place. You may walk beneath and 

 about his leafy retreat and he will not 

 move so long as he believes himself un- 

 discovered but gaze gravely down up- 

 on you, closely following your every 

 movement and apparently doing some 

 mighty thinking. But when once rout- 

 ed it is almost impossible to get within 

 gunshot of him. After a fatiguing 

 night's campaign among the rodents 1 

 do not blame him for clinging to his 

 retreat and risking discoveiy. The 

 chances of detection are small, hence 

 there is very little risk, he being cloth- 

 ed in plumage made to blend with the 

 environment of his roosting place. 



The Owls I occasionally meet with iu 

 my woodland rambles can, without ex- 

 ception, claim the honor of lirst dis- 

 covering me even to the decidedly noc- 

 turnal Asio loilnoninnus. No matter 

 how quietly I made my way the mo- 

 ment I discover the statue-like form of 

 an Owl I become aware that he is al- 

 ready scrutinizing me and laelieve that 

 in the shadowing forest I have been the 

 attractive center of more pairs of Owls' 

 eyes than it has been my good fortune 

 to see living representatives of the bird 

 both in the woods and in captivity. 



The above is Bnbo virginianus as I 

 have met and known him and to fur- 

 ther illustrate the characteristics of this 

 bird I will, in the near future, speak of 

 some peculiarities of my pet Owl 

 "Pearl." Claire Wood, 



Detroit, Mich. 



A Family of Bonasa umbellus. 



Date, May 27, 1895. Time 6:55 p. m. 

 Place, mixed deciduous and evergreen 

 woods, Avith grass and ferns in patches. 

 I had eaten my supper and was out for 

 a few minutes with the birds before dark. 

 Having travelled half through a strip of 



woodland, about one and one-half miles 

 from the Aillage of Gaines, I came to a 

 place where the woods were divided by 

 an old tumble down rail fence just be- 

 yond which w'as an opening grown up 

 to brush, etc. I was looking high for 

 small birds, when I was startled by a 

 commotion on the ground in front and 

 what a commotion ! Almost under my 

 feet was a male Ruffed Grouse, not put- 

 ting distance betw-een himself and I at 

 the rate of 100 miles an hour, more or 

 less, as is usually the case; but running 

 towai'ds me; every feather erect, ruff 

 spread to its greatest extent, and crest 

 erect. And such a racket from one of 

 our stillest birds. He clucked and 

 hissed, sputtered and (^jickled, in fact it 

 was a perfect miniature of the common 

 hen's performance under like conditions 

 except for a peculiar w^histling note 

 which I was surprised to hear from this 

 bird. But why all this fuss? From one 

 poir.t in the dry leaves just ahead ran a 

 group of downy balls, not in one direct- 

 ion but each one in a separate course 

 like the spokes of a wheel. But sudden- 

 ly all this changed. Mr. Grouse dis- 

 covers that he confronts what he right- 

 fully regards as his worst enemy, man. 

 His feathers drop and with a warning 

 cluck he flies a few feet over the fence. 

 Presto, every downy chick has disap- 

 peared. I did not dare to stir for^ 

 surely, at least two of the little birds 

 must be close to my feet for I saw them 

 run that way. They did not seem ta 

 try to escape from any definite danger, 

 for they ran iu every direction with a 

 perfect disregard as to my position. 

 Evidently they simply followed a. 

 "blind" instinct prompted by the warn- 

 ing note of the old bird. I looked the 

 ground over closely and finally discern- 

 ed tivo sparkling ej^es viewing me with 

 the same unblinking steadiness that the 

 old birds have always been noted for. 

 Colored almost exactly like the dead 

 leaves on which it sat, it was almost 

 obliterated in its surroundings. Look- 



