2O Bonasa Umbellus, Rex. 



Stepping upon the gnarled root of a rough 

 lichen-covered stump she glanced over 

 her own smooth outlines and the bright 

 hazel eye looked the satisfaction of the 

 comparison, but yet she could not resist 

 the feminine impulse to rearrange several 

 feathers that were already perfectly in 

 place. 



All at once she gave a start, and with 

 upstretched neck and elevated crest as- 

 sumed an attitude of strictest attention, 

 for from a distant point in the forest there 

 had come to her ears a low sound like 

 muffled drum-beats, the strokes first slow, 

 then faster, and ending finally in a long 

 tattoo. 



Poised upon the root with partly opened 

 wings, she seemed almost ready to fly in 

 the direction from which the sound came, 

 but suddenly remembering herself, the 

 wings were closed again and her head 

 dropped bashfully until the echoless drum- 

 beat once more sounded through the 

 woods. It was the love call of Old Iron- 

 sides, a noble cock grouse that we had so 

 named because of his seeming impenetra- 



