WHISTLER 209 



wing. Very rarely they take refuge ip trees. It has been 

 said a bob-white can retain its odor voluntarily, since the 

 best of pointers often fails to find it even when within a few 

 feet. When lying close, the wings are pressed against the 

 side, every feather clings tightly with a tension produced 

 by fear. The result is that by flying upward, rather than 

 running and giving the scent to the dogs, and by com- 

 pressing its feathers on dropping to the ground again, brave 

 little bob-white often gives the sportsman a lively chase 

 for his game. After much shooting, birds become "edu- 

 cated." Wonderfully clever they are in matching the 

 sportsman's tricks with better ones. They school the 

 wing shots finely until the crack marksman confesses his 

 chagrin. The best-trained dog may bushwhack an entire 

 slope, where they are known to be scattered, without flush- 

 ing one; for vainly does the dog draw now. His usefulness 

 was greatest in standing a covey before the reports from the 

 gun gave fair warning that no one-sided sport had begun. 

 Who that knows its charm, to say nothing of its eco- 

 nomic value, cares to eat this friendly little song bird that 

 stays about the farm with his family through the coldest 

 winter to pick up the buckwheat, cheap raisins, and sweep- 

 ings from the hay loft that keep him as neighborly as a 

 robin? Every farmer who shoots or allows others to de- 

 stroy this useful ally in his eternal war against weeds and 

 insect pests, impoverishes himself more than he is aware. 



Ruffed Grouse 



Length — 16 to 18 inches. 



Male and Female — ^TJpper parts chestnut varied with gray- 

 ish and yellowish brown, white, and black; head slightly 



