AMONG THE BIRDS OF THE YOSEMITE 217 



gazing up through the branches, straining his 

 eyes while his gun is held ready ; not a feather 

 can he see unless his eyes have been sharpened 

 by long experience and knowledge of the blue 

 grouse's habits. Then, perhaps, when he is 

 thinking that the tree must be hollow and that 

 the birds have all gone inside, they burst forth 

 with a startling whir of wing-beats, and after 

 gaining full speed go skating swiftly away 

 through the forest arches in a long, silent, wav- 

 ering slide, with wings held steady. 



During the summer they are most of the time 

 on the ground, feeding on insects, seeds, berries, 

 etc., around the margins of open spots and rocky 

 moraines, playing and sauntering, taking sun 

 baths and sand baths, and drinking at little pools 

 and rills during the heat of the day. In winter 

 they live mostly in the trees, depending on buds 

 for food, sheltering beneath dense overlapping 

 branches at night and during storms on the lee- 

 side of the trunk, sunning themselves on the 

 southside limbs in fine weather, and sometimes 

 diving into the mealy snow to flutter and wallow, 

 apparently for exercise and fun. 



I have seen young broods running beneath the 

 firs in June at a height of eight thousand feet 

 above the sea. On the approach of danger, the 

 mother with a peculiar cry warns the helpless 

 midgets to scatter and hide beneath leaves and 

 twigs, and even in plain open places it is almost 



