BIRDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. ,355 



prised, the mother resorts to arts like those of the quail, throw- 

 ing herself on the ground, fluttering and beating with her 

 wings, as if hardly able to move ; and while she thus draws off 

 the attention of the intruder, she calls to the young to dis- 

 perse and hide themselves. They do this so efl'ectually that 

 they are seldom found, though they only creep among the dry 

 leaves, or remain perfectly still, trusting that their resemblance 

 to the earth will conceal them from an unfriendly eye. 



The old birds, when hard pressed by the hunter, if there is 

 snow on the ground, save themselves by diving into it, and 

 working their way out at some distance from the place where 

 they went in. Much as they are pursued, they are still 

 abundant in New England, and the wildness of their habits 

 will save them from extermination so long as the forests are 

 permitted to last. They are now cut down with wanton pro- 

 fusion ; and as fast as they are cleared away, birds of this de- 

 scription are driven to other regions less infested by man. 



The Pinnated Grous, Tetrao cupido, was once very com- 

 mon in New England, but, being more shy than the preceding 

 species, it has already been driven from all but a very few pla- 

 ces, where it is comparatively free from intrusion. Audubon 

 says, that when he first went to Kentucky, they were so abun- 

 dant, that they could hardly be given away ; now, hardly one 

 can be found in the State, and they are, in like manner, fast 

 disappearing from all the settled parts of the west. In Massa- 

 chusetts, laws have been enacted to preserve the heath-hen, as 

 it is commonly called ; but it is impossible to witb6tand the 

 operation of the law of nature by legislative enactments, and 

 the same causes which have removed the greater proportion 

 will soon deprive us of all. The better way is to try the ex- 

 periment of domestication ; the bird is easily tamed, and breeds 

 in confinement. Some which Audubon kept for the purpose, 

 soon became familiar, and would eat from the hand as readily 

 as common fowls. Unfortunately, they became so destructive 

 to the vegetables of the garden, that he was obliged to have 

 them killed ; but the experiment proceeded far enough to show, 



