228 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



Like the chicks of other fowls, they could not seem to 

 get settled for the night, but would stray in and out. 

 Then as they sought a place of shelter again they 

 would shove one of their fellows out from under the 

 mother's wing. However, as darkness grew the rest- 

 lessness ceased, and by the time it was too dark to 

 see the group everything was silent. How many there 

 were in the bevy I could not tell, but it seemed that 

 there must have been at least six or eight." 



Though the number of these birds is so pitifully 

 small, yet, as already suggested, they pack in the same 

 way as does the western pinnated grouse. The report 

 of the Massachusetts commissioners on fisheries and 

 game for 1907 states that on January II, 1908, a flock 

 was counted which contained not less than fifty-five 

 nor more than sixty birds. The same report declares 

 that the birds remained in these flocks until late in 

 February and began to utter their calls on the approach 

 of warm weather, and when this takes place the flocks 

 break up and the season for mating begins. The elabo- 

 rate performances earlier described begin about April 

 I, and end about the middle of June, being at their 

 greatest height the last of April and early part of May. 

 The chicks are hatched in June and in July. When 

 about the size of quails they make long flights when 

 alarmed. 



Among experiments carried on by the Massachusetts 

 commission was the taking of a set of nine heath hen 

 eggs, which were placed under a bantam hen. Only 

 one of these eggs hatched, and the chick was at once 



