n6 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FARM 



FlG. 54. Bob-white (after Seton). 



trophies to the hunter; or 

 those, like the bob-white, 

 that were social in habits; or 

 those, like the prairie hen, 

 that flew in the open and 

 could be followed by the eye 

 to cover. Our woods-loving 

 ruffed grouse has fared a 

 little better. Wherever suffi- 

 cient forest cover remains, 

 it has been able to maintain 

 itself in spite of well-armed 

 pursuers. It is alert. It is 

 solitary. Its protective 

 coloration is well nigh perfection. Its flight is swift; 

 and when flushed from cover, it goes off with a startling 

 suddenness and whirring of wings that disconcerts the 

 average hunter and delays his fire until a safe escape 

 has been made. Moreover, the hunter, by killing off 

 some of its worst enemies among the beasts of prey, has 

 unwittingly helped the grouse to hold its place. So it 

 remains with us, by virtue of its superb natural endowment, 

 notwithstanding it is truly a hunter's prize. Fattened on the 

 wild cereals of the woodland swales, 

 and flavored with the aromatic buds 

 of the sweet birch, there is no more 

 toothsome game bird in the world 

 than this one. 



Among the curious sounds made 

 by male birds, the calls of our native 

 land birds are most unique. The 

 ludicrous gobble of the turkey, the 

 thrilling whistle of the bob-white, 

 the muffled drumming of the ruffed Fl ^ ui. The male ruffed 



