290 AMERICAN GAME. 



less than seven lien birds gathered around a single male, 

 all in turn expectant of his looked-for attentions, and all 

 gratified by a share of his notice. If this be not 

 Polygamy, I should like to receive the Grand Turk's 

 opinion on the subject, as I confess myself, if it be any 

 thing less, in a state of absolute benightedness. 



The Huffed Grouse begins her nest very early in May, 

 and lays from eight to fifteen brownish- white, unspotted 

 eggs, nearly the size of those of a pullet. With the 

 exact period of this bird's incubation I am not acquaint- 

 ed ; the young birds run the instant they clip the shell ; 

 obey the cluck of the mother, as chickens that of the 

 hen ; and are tended by her with extreme care and 

 solicitude. In case of her being surprised with her 

 young about her, she resorts to all the artifices practiced 

 by the Quail, and even by the comparatively dull and 

 stolid Woodcock, to draw away the intruder from the 

 vicinity, feigning lameness, and incapacity to fly, until 

 she shall have lured away the pursuer far from the 

 hiding-place of her fledglings. Then she shall whirr 

 away on resonant and powerful pinions, up, up above 

 the tops of the tall pines and hemlocks, and thence skate 

 homeward noiseless on balanced wings, where she will 

 find them close ensconced among the sheltering fern 

 tufts, or the matted winter-greens and whortleberry 

 bushes, viewless to the most prying eye, and undiscover- 

 able, save to the nose of the unerring spaniel. But 

 once returned, you shall see them emerge, chirping 



