Ruffed Grouse 243 



and bird intelligence, her downy chicks are teach- 

 ing us facts in protective colouration and hered- 

 ity. How the old one limps and "flutters ! She 

 can barely drag herself along the ground. But 

 while we are watching her, what has become of 

 the ten or a dozen little yellow balls we had 

 almost stepped on? Not a feather do we see, 

 until, poking about in the leaves, we find one 

 little chap hiding here and another squatting 

 there, all perfectly still, and so like the leaves 

 in colour as to be nearly invisible." 



