146 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



No doubt she is occasionally flushed by foxes during the day, in fact the 

 two places last named are the stamping grounds of the fox. Generally 

 among the trees there is very little tall grass, but in the high clearings the 

 grass is tall and affords good cover. So here is where the young grouse 

 are taken to spend the night and here Reynard seldom goes, and if he did 

 he would probably be baffled nine times out of ten when he came to 

 search for the scattered fleeing brood. So even when the young are 

 quite small the mother is able to keep them out of harm's way. The 

 skunk is not frequently seen as high up in the mountains so danger from 

 that source is eliminated. During the time when the mother grouse is 

 leading her young she varies her diet from the habitual bugs, buds, etc., 

 to the blossoms of certain blue flowers and nice ripe strawberries. A 

 dozen little chicks may sometimes be surprised when feeding with their 

 mother in an aspen grove. In an instant they have disappeared, but by 

 describing a large circle, and kicking the bunches of grass you may gener- 

 ally scare out one or two. They are pretty little fellows, cream color and 

 streaked and spotted with brown. They will not live in captivity, at least 

 all attempts to domesticate them that have come under my notice have 

 failed. They generally die or escape. 



During the mating season this grouse makes a peculiar drumming 

 sound, as in others of the genus, and goes through many ludicrous antics 

 in attempting to win over the fair object of his affections. Of course like 

 nearly everyone else the grouse has enemies. 1 don't mean Reynard this 

 time, but a winged enemy called a hawk. When a hawk starts a grouse 

 on a pleasant wooded hillside, the grouse makes right down a hill as he 

 can fly faster down hill than up; and all the while he is watching for some 

 brush to disappear into. Well, the hawk just follows along rather closely, 

 trying to crowd the grouse out of an opportunity to conveniently drop into 

 a brush heap, until the pursued is forced to ascend a hill on the other side 

 of the canon, when the hawk cuts off about half the distance by taking a 

 straight line and lands squarely on his victim's back. A short struggle 

 ensues but the grouse is a poor combatant. It seems as though the hawk 

 ihad studied geometry, when he makes this short cut while the grouse 

 laboriously measures off the angle. 



The grouse is very agreeable to the palate, except in the early spring, 

 when they eat the tree buds and this taints the flesh and makes it rather 

 unpleasant to the taste. The grouse is said to spend the winter in the 

 dense foliage of the spruce trees, where it feeds on buds and quenches its 

 thirst from the drops of water from the melting snow. Hunting this bird 

 is rather tame sport as it rises rather clumsily and flies for the branches of 

 some tree, where it can be killed with almost any weapon. They are 

 often knocked over with a stick, while sitting in the middle of the trail. 

 This species is often known locally as the blue grouse. 



Emerson Atkins. Las Vegas, N. M. 



