Bonasa Umbellus, Rex. 31 



was chilly in the evening and their soft 

 down was all wet and bedraggled with 

 dew, and when it became too dark for 

 them to see the way, they stopped by a 

 sheltering stone and snuggled up close to 

 each other with plaintive peeps ; but they 

 were too tired to sleep and every now and 

 then the drooping eyelids opened with a 

 start and the chicks pushed closer still to 

 each other and lisped their longings for a 

 mother's warm feathers. On the follow- 

 ing morning they could not run nearly so 

 fast, and very often they stumbled and 

 fell over the sticks and weed stalks that 

 seemed to them to offer more and more 

 opposition. The pretty down was rough- 

 ened so that it stuck together every which 

 way, and all forlorn they were indeed. If 

 one lagged far behind or chirped patheti- 

 cally when caught in a tangle of grass the 

 other would toddle back and wait, for 

 even such mites of birds felt the desire 

 for companionship in misery. Every few 

 minutes they had to stop and rest, and 

 again on they would struggle, but with 

 such weak, uncertain steps that it was 



