184 A.MERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING. 



teen. The young, like those of all gallinaceous birds, 

 are able to run about soon after being hatched, and from 

 the moment they appear until the family circle is broken 

 up, the parents pay them the most devoted attention, 

 often sacrificing their own lives to protect them from the 

 attacks of hawks, foxes, and even man. The best 

 protection the little creatures have is not, however, the 

 courage of their guardians, but that given them by nature, 

 for so closely do they resemble the landscape that it is 

 extremely diflScult to discover them amid the grass, 

 leaves, and moss-covered crags to which they flee for 

 shelter when alarmed. A man may be in the midst of 

 large packs, yet not detect them unless they begin to 

 move about, and even then their mild, prying eyes are 

 the first objects to attract his attention, for they may be 

 seen when the body to which they belong is supposed to 

 be a tuft of grass, moss, or lichen. 



The birds begin their southern migration in the far 

 north about the end of October, when the heavy snow 

 makes its appearance, and as they travel principally on 

 foot, their numbers are constantly increased by fresh ac- 

 cessions until they reach their winter home. Arrived 

 there, they break up into groups, varying in number 

 from six to sixty, and scatter over the country in search 

 of food and shelter. When the indications of spring appear 

 in March, they reassemble in large packs and march north- 

 ward again, and on reaching their breeding grounds they 

 pair off, the male, like other species of the family, winning 

 his partner for the season by strutting before her in vari- 

 ous attitudes, displaying his new spring dress, and call- 

 ing her attention to his airs and graces by loud, rough 

 notes. He repeats his croaking cry as often as possible 

 every morning and evening, as if he were enamored of it, 

 but stops it as soon as he has found a mate. 



The food of this species consists of insects, berries, 

 mosses, lichens, and the buds of willows and other trees, 



