i8o THE MINDS AND MANNERS 



extirpated on Funk Island because it could not get away from 

 its sordid enemies who destroyed it for a paltry supply of oil. 



The Fool Hen and Its Folly. In our own country there 

 exists a grouse species so foolish in its mind, and so destitute of 

 the most ordinary instinct of self-preservation that it has been 

 known for many years as "the Fool Hen." Definitely, it is 

 the Franklin Grouse (jConachites franklini) , and its home is in 

 the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. This famous and pitiable 

 victim of misplaced confidence will sit only eight feet up on a 

 jack pine limb, beside a well travelled road, while Mack Norboe 

 dismounts, finds a suitable stick, and knocks the foolish bird 

 dead from its perch. I have seen these birds sit still and 

 patiently wait for their heads to be shot off, one by one, with 

 a .22 calibre revolver when all points of the compass were 

 open for their escape. 



All this, however, must be set down as an unusual and phe- 

 nomenal absence of the most natural instinct of self-protection. 

 The pinnated grouse, sage grouse, Bob White quail and ptarmi- 

 gan exercise but little keen reason in self-protection. They 

 are easy marks, — the joy of the pot-hunter and the delight 

 of the duffer "sportsman." 



Dullness of Instinct in Grouse and Quail. The pin- 

 nated grouse, which in Iowa and the Dakotas positively is a 

 migratory bird, does know enough to fly high when it is mi- 

 grating, but seemingly this species and the sage grouse never 

 will grow wise enough to save themselves from hunters when 

 on their feeding grounds. In detecting the presence of their 

 arch enemy they are hopelessly dull; and they are slow in taking 

 wing. 



The quail is a very good hider, but a mighty poor flyer. 

 When a covey is flushed by a collection of dogs and armed men, 

 the lightning-quick and explosive get-away is all right; but the 

 unshot birds do not fly half far enough! Instead of bowling 

 away for two or three miles and getting clear out of the danger 

 zone and hiding in the nearest timber, what do they do? They 



