90 EVERYDAY ADVENTURES 
close to me on the bare path, they had absolutely 
disappeared. It seemed impossible that in a few sec- 
onds they could have gained the shelter of the woods 
or could have found cover in the scanty grass and 
scattered leaves close at hand. Not one could I find 
although I searched and searched. When I turned 
back the mother grouse was gone also, although I 
could hear her whining through the bushes. 
Years later, again at the edge of the woods, one 
day early in June, I came upon another mother 
grouse leading a covey of little chicks, evidently 
just hatched, in single file out from the woods into 
the open, probably to catch grasshoppers. She went 
through the same performance as the first one, but 
this time I selected the two nearest chicks, which 
stood directly in front of me, and resolved that noth- 
ing would make me take my eyes away from them. 
Even as I watched, they melted away into the grass. 
One I found lying motionless on its side under a big 
brown leaf, looking exactly like its covering. The 
other I never did find. At first the leaf-hidden 
partridge refused to move even when I touched it, 
until I picked it up. Then it gave a shrill peep 
almost like a little chicken. Instantly the poor 
mother bird rushed up to my very feet and dashed 
her wings frantically against my legs, jumping up 
from the ground and whining so piteously that, 
after I had stroked her fuzzy, soft little chick, I put 
it back on the ground without any further examina- 
tion. At once it disappeared, and the mother bird, 
still whining, also sidled away into the woods. 
