THE PINNATED GROUSE. 185 



nated grouse pairs in March, and generally pro- 

 duces from twelve to fourteen young at a brood ; the 

 chicks very early take to the wing, but their flight is 

 weak and short until they are more than half-grown. 

 During the infancy of the family, the courage and artifice 

 of the parent bird to intimidate or draw off intruders is 

 worthy of notice. At first she will fly towards you as if 

 intent on doing you battle, but when this course has 

 failed, she will retire, droop her wings, struggle on the 

 ground, only just keeping beyond your grasp, always 

 moving in a direction contrary to where her brood are 

 hid, until parent instinct tells her that the children are 

 safe, when suddenly, on strong wings, she will start for a 

 distant flight. The facility with which the young secrete 

 themselves is most surprising. Frequently have I got 

 unexpectedly into the centre of a family, when up they 

 would rise like a flight of bees and as rapidly drop 

 again ; certainly you see the exact spot on which they 

 have alighted that tuft of grass you believe most 

 surely contains one, but search as you will, turn over 

 carefully every blade, look well about the roots all is 

 useless, for no fledgeling will you discover. 



At the commencement of the pairing season, par- 

 ticularly if the weather is calm and cloudy, the 

 male birds call all day; their note resembling the 

 lowing of a cow, which can be heard distinctly for 

 over a mile. As the spring advances they confine 

 this habit to evening and morning, but by the time 

 the brood is hatched, cease it altogether. The pecu- 

 liarity of the call of the males of this species is such, 

 that once heard, it is difficult to forget, particularly 

 when softened by distance ; it is produced by forcing 

 the air out of two orange -coloured receptacles placed 



