1 38 The Birds of Albany County 



its forests to favor the increase of the Grouse, but they 

 doubtless breed here sparingly. It is unnecessary to describe 

 this, our most magnificent game bird, as almost everyone has 

 seen them, before the present game laws were enacted, hanging 

 before our markets, victims to the epicurean tastes of superior 

 man. 



During the main part of the year the Partridge is very 

 wild and distant. Formerly they were supposed to be 

 untamable, but a writer in a recent magazine, tells of having 

 thoroughly domesticated a number of birds and bred them 

 in captivity. 



But however wary the Grouse may be generally, there is 

 a certain period of the year when the hen puts by all fear 

 of natural enemies and can be as easily approached as a 

 barnyard fowl. This is when the chicks have just left the 

 shell and need their mother's protection. I recall very well 

 in early years, coming suddenly upon a hen Partridge with 

 a very large brood of fluffy, downy chicks. It was in an 

 old, little-frequented mountain road in Connecticut. I stooped 

 and lifted a couple of the chicks in my hands. They rested 

 contentedly enough in my palms, but what an agony of mind 

 the mother betrayed! With every feather erect, wings 

 drooping, and tail spread, she fairly danced about me, coming 

 so close that I could have reached out and touched her. And 

 all the time she uttered strange, wild cries, much like the 

 whining of a cat. Then I placed the chicks on the ground 

 and retired a short distance from the spot. The mother 

 straightway calmed down and led her brood into the under- 

 brush; for a moment I heard a scurrying of tiny feet through 

 the leaves and then the whole company had vanished. 



