94 



His "'boo-ro-roo" is a long-drawn out roll, and resembles 

 nothing so much as the expression "you-ole fool." Indeed, 

 when the drumming is followed with these syllables in mind, 

 the resemblance is ludicrous. Xot the most gallant way per- 

 haps, for father Tympanachus to announce to the sleeping world 

 the birth of a new day, but really cjuite excusable when we 

 think of his many trials and crosses at the hand of man. It 

 is, in fact, his only way of resenting the plowing up of his 

 foraging grounds and the turning of his nests in the furrows. 



To see him in his most interesting moods, you must find him 

 during courting hours. Then the determined swains meet in 

 battle royal to decide the great question as to which shall be 

 "king of the fiock," the victor of course claiming the choice 

 of the females for his mate. 



When you have gazed upon the proud fellow dragging his 

 stifif wings on the ground in scornful challenge ; when you 

 have seen the excited cackling females encouraging their lords 

 to battle and have heard their wild nerve shattering laughter (so 

 like the babble of a gathering of maniacs), you will have felt 

 repaid for the inconvenience of an early morning trip to the 

 rendevous. 



The bobwhite and prairie chicken may both be saved to us 

 by simply protecting them. That they are gradually adapting 

 themselves to the changed conditions is amply proved. Re- 

 cently I found a nest of the prairie hen containing thirteen eggs 

 placed in a small clover field within a hundred yards of our 

 town park, and last summer I photographed a nest with eggs 

 only four blocks from my place of business. Bobwhite is al- 

 ready a semi-domesticated bird and will nest and feed in com- 

 pany with the barnyard fowl wlicii undisturbed. 



The ruffed grouse and woodcock, however, will soon be gone. 

 The only possible way to keep them would be to save the forests, 

 and this of course will not be done. These interesting game 

 birds cannot change their mode of life, and man's advent was 

 the beginning of the end for them. 



I have in mind but one spot where 1 may now find the wood- 

 cock, that queer almost silent bird of the night. Untouched 



