2S2 BONASA UMBELLUS. 



fly but a short distance. As winter approaches, they leave the high himls and enter the 

 swamps, choosing thick evergreens as roosting places; then, when the weather becomes- 

 very severe, especially if the wind be blowing strong from the north or west, they maybe 

 found enjoying the brief sunlight on the southern exposures which rise from the lower lev- 

 els. At this season, especially after the snow falls, they gain a precarious living by pick- 

 ing oifbuirel buds, dried barberries and other fruit. After heavy snow-storms, when the 

 weather is extremely cold, they have the singular habit of dropping, or diving, into snow- 

 drifts and will otten remain there for some length of time; then if the snow chances to crust 

 over so that they cannot escape, they perish from starvation. 



As soou as the genial influence of the coming spring has caused the buds to swell on 

 the birch and otlior trees, the Ruffed Grouse eat them in large quantities. They will also 

 visit the orchards and bud the apple trees. They do considerable mischief in this way, in 

 sparcely settled districts, insomuch so, that atone time, a bounty of twenty-five cents each 

 was offered by certain towns in Massachusetts for their heads. It is almost incredible, what 

 a vast amount of l)uds a single Grouse will eat; thus, I once took one hundred and eighty 

 apple buds from the crop of a bird that I had shot about ten o'clock in the morning, and as 

 this was but a single meal, it can well be understood that a flock of ten or a dozen, would 

 completely denude a small orchard in a short time. 



About April, the RulFed Grouse arc to bo found in pairs, and in May the females con- 

 struct the rude nests, choosing a situation beneath a brush heM[), umU'r a fallen tree-top, 

 by the side of a log, or under the overhanging branches of a bush. The female sits closely 

 and one may almost walk on her before she will rise. She will not often feign lameness 

 when driven off her eggs, unless they be well advanced; but when the young appear, es- 

 pecially if they be very small, she will droop her wings, spread her tail, and iiuining up to 

 the intruder, v\ ill drop nearly at his feet, at the same time, uttering a peculiar cackling. 

 Taking care, however, to just elude his grasp, she will use every endeavor to induce him 

 to pursue her and leave her helpless young which, in the mean time, warned by the voice 

 of their mother, run into the nearest place of concealment; thus some hide beneath leaves, 

 some under logs, some iu clumps of grass; in short, in a moment's time, not one is to be 

 seen, and then the old Grouse suddenly takes wing and also disappears. [ have, like many 

 others, often been a witness to a scene, much as I h;ive described, but I rt- membei* upon 

 one oc<!asion, T concluded to wait after the disappearance of the mother, and see what the 

 young would do. This was in June, in the woods of White Deer Valley, Pennsylvania, 

 and I had coun; suddenly upon the little family as they were crossing a space destitute ot 

 bushes. The old Grouse gave her alarm ami as her progeny were about a week old, they 

 were not long in scattering and concealing themselves, when I quietly stepped behind the 

 trunk of a huge tree which grew near. I waited without motion or sound lor about ten 

 minutes, durinrr whicli time, I did not see a single young, when the mother bird which 

 had down some <listance, came running back, uttering as she came, a series of chuckling 

 notes, quite dilferent from any I ever heard before. She did not appear to take the slight- 

 est notici! of me, although I was in plain sight for I had unwittingly choosen the wrong 

 side of the tree for concealment, but continued to approach, passing within a foot of me, all 



