136 



THE OOLOGIST. 



From this time on their principal food 

 is grain, berries and grapes. I have 

 seen them in grape vines and berry 

 patches right by the side of houses. 



In the winter they live on fir leaves. 

 In the fall before they go up in the fir 

 trees for winter, the young are very 

 tame. I have seen them sitting on fen- 

 ces along the public road and they 

 would sit there and let a person nearly 

 catch them in their hands before they 

 would fly. 



I have also seen them sitting on houses 

 and barns, mostly very early in the 

 morning. 



A few years ago a full grown Grouse 

 flew into our dining room, at an open 

 door, and lit on the dining table. Mother 

 shut the door and so the next day he 

 was on the table for dinner. 



At one time I caught several young 

 Grouse and put them with a domestic 

 hen. They became very tame and 

 would leave the hen and follow any of 

 us around the yard. They would not 

 stay with the hen and kept running 

 around in the grass until they were all 

 lost. 



Some people say that the China 

 Pheasants are killing and driving the 

 Grouse out of the country, but I do not 

 think so, for I have known of several 

 cases where the China Pheasants and 

 Grouse layed in the same nest, and the 

 Grouse was the one that did the setting 

 every time 



I knew of one case where a Grouse 

 hatched and raised 5 young Grouse and 

 3 Pheasants. After they were old 

 enough I have scared them out of a 

 grain field and the old Grouse with her 

 5 young Grouse and the 3 young Pheas- 

 ants would all fly up in an old dead fir 

 tree. 



I think the reason why they are be- 

 coming scarce in the valley is because 

 they are never satisfied unless they have 

 quite a grove of fir timber for their 

 home, nor are two females satisfied to 

 nest near each other, and as these con- 

 ditions have become less, from much 

 clearing having been done in the valley, 

 they have mostly all gone to the moun- 

 tains. 



Ellis F. Hadley, 

 Dayton, Oregon. 



The Peculiar Prison Bird. 



The peculiarity of the prison bird, a 

 feathered beauty of Africa, is that he 

 Is the most tyrannical and jealous of 

 husbands, imprisoning his mate 

 throughout her nesting time. Living- 

 stone watched the bird's habits while 

 in Monpour and in his subsequent ob- 

 servations referred to the nest as a 

 prison and the female bird as a slave. 



The nest is built in the hollow of a 

 tree through an opening in the bark. 

 As soon as it is completed the mother 

 bird enters carefully and fearfully and 

 settles down in it. Then papa walls 

 ■up the opening, leaving only just space 

 enough for air and food to pass 

 through. He keeps faithful guard and 

 brings food at regular intervals with- 

 out fail. The female thrives under her 

 enforced retirement. But if the prison 

 bird is killed or in any other way pre- 

 vented from fullilling his duties the 

 mother and her little ones must die of 

 Btarvation. for she cannot free herself 

 from bondage. 



Normally the imprisonment lasts un- 

 til the chicks are old enough to fly. 

 Then the male bird destroys the bar- 

 rier with his beak and liberates his 

 family. "It is charming," writes Liv- 

 ingstone, "to see the joy with which the 

 little prisoners greet the light and the 

 unknown world." 



Ronte a.tt Pronounced, 



There are numerous excuses for the 

 pronunciation of the word route, and 

 a man may hardly go amiss to choose 

 his own style. Down south they say 

 always rowt. In the north, among the 

 educated classes, we hear root. Here 

 also we hear, lower down, especially 

 among the hyphenated Americans, rut. 

 The Irish, even big folk, say rut. The 

 original Webster gives the pronuncia- 

 tion as rowt. with an admission of 

 root We have adopted root because 

 of a French leaning. The word rut, 

 meaning a deep track in a roadway, 

 cut by the rim of a wheel, is simply a 

 contraction of route and rout. The 

 Century dictionary says root or rowt, 

 preference for root. We also say 

 rootine for routine; why not therefore, 

 root for route? Rowtine would sound 

 funny.— New York Pr^ss. 



