26 Bonasa Umbellus, Rex. 



eyed horned-owl gave the mother grouse 

 a cruel heart-thumping one moonlight 

 night just as she had almost dared to take 

 a little nap ; but the owl had dived for a 

 gray rabbit, and did not suspect that a 

 grouse was within easy reach. Why it 

 was that the minks and skunks and 

 weasels and raccoons and box turtles and 

 black snakes did not find the nest is a 

 mystery ; but there is some strange pro- 

 tection afforded by nature for ground- 

 nesting birds. Perhaps there is a certain 

 sense of honor among predaceous animals. 

 Hounds are disinclined to chase a nursing 

 she-fox, and it may be that minks know 

 better than to destroy the eggs that make 

 the golden geese, although we do know 

 that they are sometimes absent-minded in 

 their morals. The only enemy that found 

 the nest after all was a farmer's boy, and 

 he did it quite accidently by stepping so 

 near the old bird on his way home from 

 the trout brook that she was forced to fly 

 out. The boy's first impulse was to leave 

 the eggs undisturbed except for the turn- 

 ing that was absolutely necessary for an 



