Bonasa Umbellus, Rex. 35 



followed it at any necessary rate of speed, 

 and after mesmerizing it by the cruel 

 charming of cross glides and super-am- 

 bient head and fulgurating tongue, would 

 finally have ended the vicious play by 

 creeping an ugly gullet over the soft 

 prey. 



There was one enemy, though, that 

 came so insidiously that the mother gave 

 no warning note, and it would have availed 

 nothing if she had done so. A great harm- 

 less blue heron had just sagged along over 

 the brook in awkward flight, when from 

 his wake came a winged tick, the dreadful 

 lipoptena, buzzing in eccentric lines until 

 he espied the grouse. With devilish 

 precision of aim the uncanny harpy of a 

 thing struck the soft feathers of her back 

 and disappeared among them with an 

 eerie sidewise glide. The very thought 

 of harboring such a parasite was enough 

 to make the grouse shudder, but she 

 feared more for the little ones than for 

 herself. Follow the tick as she would 

 with her bill when a wriggling feather dis- 

 closed its locality she could not find the 



