THE RUFFED GROUSE. 51 



in the course of its flight, and of sitting still and allowing 

 itself to be snowed over, and then starting out, as by a sud- 

 den explosion, on some surprise, have been attested by 

 several writers of the best authority. 



Audubon used to attract the Ruffed Grouse "by beating 

 a large inflated bullock's bladder with a stick, keeping up 

 as much as possible the same time as that in which the bird 

 beats." "At the sound produced by the bladder and the 

 stick," he says, "the male Grouse, inflamed with jealousy, 

 has flown directly towards me, when, being prepared, I have 

 easily shot it." There are many birds which may be decoyed 

 by a faithful imitation of their notes. 



The nest of this beautiful bird is associated with my recol- 

 lections of childhood. I can see it still, a slight bed of 

 leaves, on the ground, under a fallen tree, in the w r ild 

 meadow. How the gentle wild hen would sit, till we chil- 

 dren came near enough to touch her, sometimes making our 

 calls without causing the least disturbance. The eggs, 

 about a dozen in number, and near the size of those of a 

 pullet, some 1.55 x 1.15, are brownish-white, often neatly 

 spotted and specked with brown. Well do I remember, too, 

 the stories in vogue among my playmates, as to the cunning 

 tricks of the younglings how they would scamper and hide 

 on being found, turning over on their backs and pulling 

 dried leaves over them for concealment; all of which I 

 believed then, but long since have come to doubt. It is not 

 the perfection of the concealment which I have come to 

 doubt, for that is beyond question, but the manner of that 

 concealment. The truth is their color is so much like that 

 of the dry leaves, and they are either so motionless or so 

 completely tucked away, that the eye cannot detect them. 

 The tender, downy little creatures! who could harm them 

 if he did find them! I once came upon a large brood just 



