BONASA UMBELLUS. 353 



fly but a short distance. As winter approaches, they leave the high l.-m.ls ;m,l enter the 

 swamps, choosing tliick evergreens as roosting places; then, ulu-n tin; weather becomes 

 very severe, especially if the wind lie Mowing strong from the north or west, they ni. 

 found cnjuying the brief sunlight on the southern exposures which rise from the lower lev- 

 els. At this season, especially alter the snow falls, they gain a precarious living liy pick- 

 ing oll'lanrel buds, dried barberries and other fruit. After heavy snow-storms, when the 

 weather is extremely cold, they have the singular habit of dropping, or diving, into snow- 

 drifts and will often remain there for some length of time; then if the snow chances to crust 

 over so that they cannot escape, they perish from starvation. 



As soon as the genial inlluence of the coming spring has caused the buds to swell on 

 the birch and other trees, the Ruffed Grouse eat them in large quantities. They will also 

 visit the orchards and bud the apple trees. They do considerable mischief in this way, in 

 spared y settled districts, insomuch so, that at one time, a bounty of twenty-five cents each 

 was oll'ered by certain towns in Massachusetts for their heads. It is almost incredible, what 

 a vast amount of buds a single Grouse will eat; thus, I once took one hundred and eighty 

 apple buds from the crop of a bird that I bad shot about ten o'clock in the morning, and as 

 this was but a single meal, it can well be understood that a flock of ten or a dozen, would 

 completely denude a small orchard in a short time. 



About April, the Ruffed Grouse arc to be found in pairs, and in May the females con- 

 struct the rude nests, choosing a situation beneath a brush heap, under a fallen tree-top, 

 by the side of a log, or under the overhanging branches of a bush. The female sits closely 

 and one may almost walk on her before she will rise. She will not often feign lameness 

 when driven oiFher eggs, unless they be well advanced; but when the young appear, es- 

 pecially if they be very small, she will droop her wings, spread her tail, and running up to 

 the intruder, will drop nearly at his feet, at the same time, uttering a peculiar cackling. 

 Taking care, however, to just elude his grasp, .she will use every endeavor to induce him 

 to pursue her and leave her helpless young which, in the mean time, warned by the voice 

 of their mother, run into the nearest place of concealment; thus some hide beneath leaves, 

 some under logs, some in clumps of grass; in short, jn a moment's time, not one is to be 

 seen, and then the old Grouse suddenly takes wing and also disappears. I have, like many 

 others, often been a witness to a scene, much as I have described, but I remember upon 

 one occasion, I concluded to wait after the disappearance of the mother, and see what the 

 young would do. This was in June, in the woods of White Deer Valley, Pennsylvania, 

 and 1 had come suddenly upon the little family as they were crossing a space destitute of 

 bushes. The old Grouse gave her alarm and as her progeny wen' about a week old, they 

 were not long in scattering and concealing themselves, when I quietly stepped In-hind the 

 trunk of a huge tree which grew near. I waited without motion or sound for alu.n 

 minutes, during which time, I did not see a single young, when the mother bird which 

 had llciwn some distance, came running back, uttering as she came, a series of chuckling 

 notes, quite dilFerent from any I ever heard before. She did not appear to take the -light- 

 est notice of me, although I was in plain sight for I had unwittingly choosen the wrong 

 side of the tree for concealment, but continued to approach, passing within a foot of me, all 



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