86 GAME BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



whether it shall herald its departure with a burst of 

 thundering sound, or omit it altogether. The noise cer- 

 tainly serves for a moment to unsettle the nerves of its 

 enemies, unless experienced and accustomed to its ways, 

 and many a Grouse has preserved its life by the shock 

 the thunder of its wings has given to the startled nerves 

 of the novice in field sports. Like other members of 

 the tribe this Grouse is very courageous in defending its 

 young from any enemy. If its nest and eggs are dis- 

 covered it usually slinks quietly away, remaining, how- 

 ever, in the vicinity; but if the hen has a young brood 

 with her, she is utterly forgetful of self, and rushes to 

 meet either man or beast, and endeavors to lure him 

 by feigned lameness and other pitiful devices away from 

 the spot, sounding at the same time the warning notes 

 to the young to scatter and hide. It has been known in 

 its frenzied anxiety to peck at a man's trousers, as if 

 its feeble efforts could compel its huge enemy to flee. 

 If the intruder should happen to be a fox or other 

 quadruped there is a good deal of method displayed by 

 the hen in her attempts to entice him away from her 

 young, and although she may flutter and flounder about 

 within a few inches of the animal's nose, she is very 

 careful not to go quite near enough to be caught, but 

 evades easily the desperate efforts the beast makes to 

 spring upon her. And when she has succeeded in draw- 

 ing her foe a sufficient distance away, she suddenly rises 

 on sounding wings, and with swift flight returns to her 

 brood, leaving her defeated pursuer foolishly looking 

 about him and probably lamenting the loss of all earthly 

 hopes and joys, in this case typified by the vanishing 

 prospect of a much-desired meal. But one brood is 

 raised in a season, and the period of incubation, nest, 

 its composition and position, number, color, and mark- 



