RUFFED GROUSE—PARTRIDGE 159 
straight at a distance of not more than from three to 
thirty feet above the ground. As it approaches the 
place where it wishes to alight it sets its wings and 
sails straight for the place and there alights on the 
eround. I do not think that it ever turns up in the 
air as a quail does, but on the other hand I have never 
seen a bird actually alight. In winter I have, however, 
seen where they had come to the ground after a short 
flight, and the impression of the bird’s breast in the 
snow two or three inches deep. The breast evi- 
dently came down very close to the ground, sweeping 
away the snow, and the grouse came to its feet at 
once. 
I have seen a bird fly from the top of a high hill to 
a piece of woods much lower down. It came straight 
until it was almost over the woods, and then, making 
a wide half circle, swiftly lowered and alighted among 
the dry leaves not more than twenty steps from me. 
The various methods by which the grouse avoid ob- 
servation are little known and are seldom observed by 
those who are only occasionally in the woods and who, 
when there, are possessed with the idea that they must 
kill as many birds as possible in the time at their dis- 
posal. The ones more likely to see such things are the 
men who spend much time in the woods and have the 
leisure to sit down and observe, watching the ways of 
the wild creatures, which, after a time believing that 
the intruder has gone away, emerge from their hiding 
places and resume their usual pursuits. But if the ob- 
