380 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



mouth nearly closed. Soon there is an entirely different note like 

 the low clucking of a hen or turkey; this grows louder and more 

 confident and I catch a glimpse now and then of the watchful hen 

 picking her cautious toy back among the low plants. " Tsee — tsee — 

 tsee-e-e-e," answers a chick here and there about me, all unseen. 

 " Puck-puk-puk," from the mother; " tsee-tsee-tsee-e-e-e," from 

 the chicks, and one of the latter comes flying down from some leafy, 

 lower branch ; " tsee-tsee-tsee " — and another appears from around 

 a stump or log. There follows more calling back and forth, more 

 chicks come out of hiding and already the " puk-puk-puks " have 

 begun to grow faint in the distance as the mother quickly leads the 

 brood off under cover of the ferns. I have on two or more occasions 

 discovered one of the chicks in his hiding place on the leaf}* ground. 

 In each case he was merely squatting there, his coat of mottled down 

 perfectly matching the browns and grays of the forest floor. 



By trie last of June the young are the size of the Bob-white or 

 Quail. From about this time onward through the summer a favor- 

 ite pastime, if not a necessity with these birds, is dust-bathing. The 

 mother or one of her brood, alone, may be the bather ; again, the 

 entire family may indulge. It is seldom that the observer is so 

 fortunate as to discover the birds in this interesting act. But the 

 recently vacated dusting spot is full of keen interest for the reader 

 of the sign language of the woods. The bath may be a certain 

 sunny spot on some logging road or at the edge of a clearing; 

 again, it may be a crumbling, dry, old log along which the whole 

 family has ranged itself, each member in his own individual 

 wallow. 



All summer long the family holds together, growing fat and 

 lusty on insects and berries. The father, however, seems to drop 

 out of sight after the drumming season. His presence with the 

 family in summer seems to be only casual. The accompanying 

 plate, therefore, shows a scene more ideal than average (plate 29). 

 I have now and: then flushed the whole covey even in autumn. I 

 believe this is the normal condition and that it is chiefly because of 

 their being broken up and scattered by shooters and their dogs, or 

 other enemies, that more coveys are not found intact as late as 

 November at least. 



LIFE OF THE RUFFED GROUSE IN WINTER 



The regular winter diet of the Ruffed Grouse consists of the 

 buds of various trees ; birch and poplar are favorites, and occasion- 

 ally he visits an apple orchard. Hence the winter and very late 

 autumn are known as the " budding " season. The budding birds 

 must be pretty watchful and quick to take cover in the undergrowth, 

 for I confess I have very seldom been able to surprise them in the 

 upper branches where no doubt they often feed. Still, they prefer 

 the ground. Their tracks are always to be expected about heaps 

 of newly-cut brush. They like to follow the axeman and snip the 

 buds of trees he has brought low. 



