THE OOLOGIST'S EXCHANGE. 



VOL. II. 



NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER, 1889. 



No. 6. 



The Ruffed Grouse. 



(BONASA UMBELLUS.) 



BY CHAS. E. BlXLEE. 



The Ruffed Grouse is distinctively a 

 forest loving bird being very seldom 

 found in the open fields. It is to be 

 found in the thick undergrowth, at all 

 hours of the day. Its usual food is 

 berries, leaves and bud?. it is very 

 fond of wild grapes and during the 

 season one will nearly always find it 

 feeding on the fruit and never very far 

 away. The Ruffed Grouse is a very 

 hardy bird, and can live through very 

 severe weather, in fact it has survived 

 where all other birds perished. When 

 pressed for food in the extremely cold 

 weather it will eat small twigs, for I 

 have examined the crops and found 

 nothing but small twigs. Its flight is 

 wonderful, one would think it impos- 

 sible for them to fly through the thick 

 undergrowth with such swiftness with- 

 out injury. It often frightens the 

 amateur sportsman to flush a grouse 

 almost at his feet, and for those who 

 have never met this bird it will turn 

 their face the color of chalk and the 

 first words they will utter are " What is 

 it ?" They fthe Grouse,) receive their 

 name from the black tufts of feathers on 

 each side of the neck and the small tuft 

 ou top of the head . The female generally 

 builds her nest in a hollow stump or at 

 the side of a log, preferably surrounded 

 by bushes. There she lays from ten to 

 fifteen eggs of a yellowish color some 

 being specked with brown and measur- 

 ing on an average 1.54x1.14. During 

 this time the male is " off with the 

 boys " and does not return till the 

 young are hatched. The young are 

 very active. As soon as they leave the 

 shell are able to run, and in a short 

 time can fly. When one suddenly 

 surprises a female and her young, she 

 will act as if wounded and generally 

 one will follow her thinking to catch 

 her, but she simply is leading you from 

 her young who are all hidden when you 

 return from your chase. In the love 

 season the male makes a peculiar noise 

 called drumming. It is done with his 

 wings, standing on a fallen log or ele- 



vated rock. The young stay together 

 in a flock till about September. 



Aug. 25, 1889. 



A Hunt after Nocturnal Birds. 

 By F. C. Bakek. 



As I look around my " sanctum," my 

 eyes fall upon a handsome specimen of 

 the Florida Barred Owl (Syrnium nebu- 

 losum alleni) looking wisely down upon 

 me. Quite a little adventure is con- 

 nected with the capture of this owl, and 

 a description of it may not be without 

 interest to my readers. 



One dark evening in the early part of 

 January, two friends of mine, whom we 

 will call Fred, and James, and myself, 

 shouldered our guns and started for a 

 neighboring savanna in search_of night 

 birds. 



Our way led for over a mile by a trail 

 through the thick woods. The ground 

 in some places was soft and spongy, 

 and in one particular spot, which I 

 shall not soon forget, the mire was 

 knee deep. To add to our nervousness 

 James commenced to tell about a num- 

 ber of rattlesnakes being found in this 

 particular locality, and that two pan- 

 thers had been seen the night befoie. 

 This naturally made us keep closer 

 together. We were carefully proceed- 

 ing along, when suddenly and without 

 warning I stepped upon a dry stick. 

 With a loud snap it broke and startled 

 me to such an extent that I stepped 

 sideways, and, as fate willed it, right 

 into a knee deep muck bole. I gave a 

 spasmodic yell that would have done 

 credit to a Seminole Brave, which so 

 startled Fred that he fired off both 

 barrels of his gun. After some time we 

 succeeded in getting straightened out 

 and proceeded upon our march. 



After a walk of three-quarters of an 

 hour, we arrived on the edge of the 

 savanna. We commenced to cross it, 

 every sense on the alert. Suddenly 

 Frecl exclaimed " Shoot, shoot, see his 

 eyes. " "Where ? where ? " exclaimed 

 James and myself in a breath. " There, 

 straight ahead, don't you see him? " A 

 moment afterwards Fred exclaimed, 

 "Look out I'm going to shoot," and 



