62 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS 



" Quail and Grouse, plenty, and some Woodcock, 

 if you know where to go. The woman is takin' a 

 bunch now to trade over the mountain, and Stubble, 

 my dog, has gone with her, or I'd send him out with 

 you. Here's a pair o' Grouse that have hung since 

 day before yesterda}^ ; they'll roast first-rate, if you'll 

 have 'em." 



Nez went to the shed and brought back a pair of 

 Partridges, or Ruffed Grouse, as they should be called, 

 both males, with ruffs of lustrous green feathers. 



" How prett}^ I " said Dodo, stroking them ; " would 

 it be any harm for me to wear those wings in ni}^ hat 

 after we have eaten the birds ? " 



" It is no harm to use the wings of food birds for 

 ornament ; the onl}^ danger is that people, who do 

 not care or know the difference, or understand about 

 Citizen Bird, may Avear tlie wings of Song Birds by 

 mistake." 



" How can we roast them without an oven ? " asked 

 Rap, as they watched Xez pulling off the wing and 

 tail feathers, but not otherwise plucking the Grouse. 

 " Hang them with a string over the fire ? " 



" In the ashes along o' the potatoes," replied Nez, 

 at the same time going near the spring and bringing a 

 spadeful of pliable, claj-ey earth, which, by wetting, he 

 kneaded into two sheets a little thicker than pie crust. 



" What can he be doing ? " whispered Dodo to 

 Olive ; " do you suppose he really eats mud pies ? " 



" No, dear ; of course not. Watch ! " 



Nez laid a bird in the centre of each sheet of 

 clay dough, after wetting its feathers, which he 

 wrapped all around it as if it were an apple in a 



