"BIDDY", AN ORIGINAL BIRD 



BY CLINTON G. ABBOTT 



(.(, 



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IDDY" did something no other grouse was 

 ever known to do. This in itself is quite 

 an achievement in an old world in which 

 it is supposedly impossible to be original. Per- 

 haps at some unknown time or in some obscure 

 place, under an environment which creates a like 

 line of bird thought, some other Biddy did what 

 this remarkable bird has done. If so, there is no 

 known record of it. 



To relieve the suspense and start the narrative, 

 it should be known that "Biddy" tamed herself, 

 and thereby got into the movies. Be it further 

 known that the proper name of the bird to which 

 this pet name is applied is the ruffed grouse, 



although incorrectly called the partridge in parts of the north 

 woods. All of her family are beautifully marked and extremely 

 shy woods birds, which shoot up from your feet with a rushing 

 whirr of wings. The camouflage of her striped brown coat is 

 protection from the keenest eyes, so that the danger of detec- 

 tion is slight, except during the flashing flight to greater 

 safety. 



The still and moving pictures of Biddy and the story of her 

 unique adoption of man was told by the writer in a talk on 

 Wild Life in the New York State Forests, at the September 

 meeting of the New York State Forestry Association at Lake 

 Placid Club, New York. 



The appearance of this particular bird, both in the movies 

 and in print, is due to the fact that all attempts to tame or 

 domesticate the ruffed grouse have absolutely failed. In no 

 recorded case have either young or adult birds shown the slight- 

 est confidence in human beings. The baby grouse hatched from 

 eggs set under hens will almost immediately after breaking the 

 shell dart to the nearest hiding place and remain as suspicious 

 as though in their natural environment; while in the woods 

 they scatter and hide completely at the first signal of danger. 

 At such times the mother bird will flutter along in plain sight 

 as if wounded, but after leading the enemy away from her 

 nest or young by such tactics, suddenly takes flight and is gone. 

 The voluntary adoption and apparent desire for human com- 

 panionship by this particular bird after being raised in 

 the woods and reaching full size, is in every way remark- 



AN UNUSUAL CONVERSATION 



"Biddy"-the queer little bird which, in defiance of all recorded laws of instinct and habit, sought and apparently thoroughly enjoyed the com- 

 panionship of man, her hereditary enemy. 



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