RUFFED GROUSE. 35 



berries of the cranberry-tree even better than they 

 do music, and we have been much amused watch- 

 ing their attempts to get the berries from a bush 

 by the garden. Sometimes they stand in the snow 

 underneath and jump for them ; but one day when 

 the bush was covered with ice one adventurous 

 bird flew up on a branch and nearly turned a 

 somersault in trying to lean over and pick off the 

 berries and at the same time keep hold of the 

 slippery perch. 



But our chief pleasure is in watching the par- 

 tridges from the bay window of the dining-room. 

 The young men are as proud as turkey-cocks 

 of the handsome black ruffs for which they were 

 dubbed " ruffed grouse," and when they strut be- 

 fore the ladies, raising their crests, erecting their 

 spread tails, and puffing out the ruffs over their 

 shoulders they remind one forcibly of the lordly 

 cock. In matter of fact they do belong to the 

 same family, that of the gallinaceous birds, 

 and many of their mannerisms betray the relation- 

 ship. Their way of scratching in the snow, rest- 

 ing their weight on one foot and scratching with 

 the other, is like that of the common hen, and 

 their drumming is the finished performance that 

 is caricatured by Chanticleer. Drumming with 

 the partridge is a joy. He beats the air with his 

 wings till it must needs sing for him, and the 

 music is full of refreshing pictures of green mossy 

 logs, arching ferns, and the cool shade of the 

 woods. 



