AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 369 



HOW A RUFFED GROUSE WAS PHOTOGRAPHED. 



Ruffed Grouse are very wary birds, especially in localities where 

 they are extensively hunted, and that includes nearly their whole range. 

 They rely to a great extent upon their color protection, but neverthe- 

 less let them think that you see them, and they are very acute observers, 

 and they will be off like a flash, followed by the rumbling whirr of their 

 wings in their haste to get out of sight. 



Very few even passably good photographs are seen of Ruffed Grouse 

 outside of captivity, and I doubt if they can be secured without great 

 difficulty, except perhaps in Maine, where the hunters in their eager- 

 ness to slay deer, rarely trouble the grouse. A few months ago one of 

 the leading magazines of out door sports published two excellent pic- 

 tures of a Ruffed Grouse on her nest. The maker of the photographs 

 however did not effectively conceal his work and they plainly show 

 that they are frauds. The photograph on the opposite page is the 

 best bona-fide photograph of a live Ruffed Grouse that I have ever 

 seen. The manner in which it was secured is described by Mr. Em- 

 body: 



One afternoon. May 14, 1902, I was summoned by a friend to inspect 

 a nest of a Ruffed Grouse on the top of a hill a little north of the 

 beautiful village of Franklin, N. Y. At the base of a chestnut tree, 

 only a few paces from a wood road along which I had often wandered, 

 there greeted my eyes a bunch of leaves hollowed out slightly. A few 

 leaves had been carelessly thrown over, but did not completely conceal 

 the buff-tinted eggs. Later on several occasions when the female was 

 flushed, the leaves were seen to fly back over the eggs as a result of 

 the action, both of the feet and wings. By actual count after the re- 

 moval of a few of the leaves, there were twenty eggs, a surprisingly 

 large number. 



The nest, eggs and surroundings were easily recorded, but to phot- 

 ograph the bird was quite a different matter. A semi-circular hide of 

 bark was made and placed within five feet of the nest. Behind this 

 the camera was so set that the lens projected slightly through a small 

 opening towards the nest. Lack of light made it necessary to give an 

 exposure of two seconds. Experience had taught that this could be 

 done with a noiseless and well concealed shutter, only. A slight move- 

 ment as well as the sharp click have spoiled results only too often 

 previously. A paste board hood was drawn over the lens tube and the 

 shutter was rendered noiseless by padding with rubber. Concealing 

 myself forty or fifty feet away, I awaited the return of the parent bird. 



Over my head, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker sounded his roll on a 

 hollow oak, louder than I had ever heard before, while a chipmunk 



