86 GAME BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 
whether it shall herald its departure with a burst of 
thundering sound, or omit it altogether. The noise cer- 
tainly serves for a moment to unsettle the nerves of its 
enemies, unless experienced and accustomed to its ways, 
and many a Grouse has preserved its life by the shock 
the thunder of its wings has given to the startled nerves 
of the novice in field sports. Like other members of 
the tribe this Grouse is very courageous in defending its 
young from any enemy. If its nest and eggs are dis- 
covered it usually slinks quietly away, remaining, how- 
ever, in the vicinity; but if the hen has a young brood 
with her, she is utterly forgetful of self, and rushes to 
meet either man or beast, and endeavors to lure him 
by feigned lameness and other pitiful devices away from 
the spot, sounding at the same time the warning notes 
tc the young to scatter and hide. It has been known in 
its frenzied anxiety to peck at a man’s trousers, as if 
its feeble efforts could compel its huge enemy to flee. 
If the intruder should happen to be a fox or other 
quadruped there is a good deal of method displayed by 
the hen in her attempts to entice him away from her 
young, and although she may flutter and flounder about 
within a few inches of the animal’s nose, she is very 
careful not to go quite near enough to be caught, but 
evades easily the desperate efforts the beast makes to 
spring upon her. And when she has succeeded in draw- 
ing her foe a sufficient distance away, she suddenly rises 
on sounding wings, and with swift flight returns to her 
brood, leaving her defeated pursuer foolishly looking 
about him and probably lamenting the loss of all earthly 
hopes and joys, in this case typified by the vanishing 
prospect of a much-desired meal. But one brood is 
raised in a season, and the period of incubation, nest, 
its composition and position, number, color, and mark- 
