26 Bonasa Umbellus, Rex. 



eyed horned-owl gave the mother grouse 

 a cruel heart-thumping one moonlight 

 night just as she had almost dared to take 

 a little nap ; but the owl had dived for a 

 gray, rabbit, and did not suspect that a 

 grouse was within easy reach. Why it 

 was that the minks and skunks and 

 weasels and raccoons and box turtles and 

 black snakes did not find the nest is a 

 mystery ; but there is some strange pro- 

 tection afforded by nature for ground- 

 nesting birds. Perhaps there is a certain 

 sense of honor among predaceous animals. 

 Hounds are disinclined to chase a nursing 

 she-fox, and it may be that minks know 

 better than to destroy the eggs that make 

 the golden geese, although we do know 

 that they are sometimes absent-minded in 

 their morals. The only enemy that found 

 the nest after all was a farmer's boy, and 

 he did it quite accidently by stepping so 

 near the old bird- on his way home from 

 the trout brook that she was forced to fly 

 out. The boy's first impulse was to leave 

 the eggs undisturbed except for the turn- 

 ing that was absolutely necessary for an 



