SONGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 271 
seven days old. I saw a single bird about three weeks old 
start from a hilltop with its mother, and, ascending among 
the tree tops, fly into a hollow more than a hundred yards 
away. Prof. C. F. Hodge told me that a three-weeks chick 
which he was rearing became frightened one day, and dis- 
appeared over the trees; an hour later it flew back. 
During the fall, the Grouse keep together in small flocks. 
Sometimes a dozen birds may be found around some favorite 
grape vine or apple tree, but they are usually so harried and 
scattered by gunners that toward winter the old birds may 
sometimes be found alone. 
As winter approaches, this hardy bird puts on its “ snow- 
shoes,” which consist of a fringe of horny processes or pecti- 
nations that grow out along each toe, and help to distribute 
the weight of the bird over a larger surface, and so allow it 
to walk over snows into which a bird not so provided would 
sink deeply. Its digestion must resemble that of the famous 
Ostrich, as broken twigs and dry leaves are ground up in its 
mill. It is a hard winter that will starve the Grouse. A 
pair spent many winter nights in a little cave in the rocky 
wall of an old quarry. Sumacs grew there, and many rank 
weeds. The birds lived well on sumac berries, weed seeds, 
and buds. 
_ Sometimes, but perhaps rarely, these birds are imprisoned 
under the snow by the icy crust which forms in cold weather 
following a rain, but usually they are vigorous enough to 
find a way out somewhere. The Grouse is perfectly at home 
beneath the snow ; it will dive into it to escape a Hawk, and 
can move rapidly about beneath the surface and burst out 
again in rapid flight at some unexpected place. 
The Ruffed Grouse is a bird of the woodland, and, though 
useful in the woods, it sometimes does some injury in the 
orchard by removing too many buds from a single tree. In 
winter and early spring, when other food is buried by the 
snow and hard to obtain, the Grouse lives largely on the buds 
and green twigs of trees; but as spring advances, insects 
form a considerable part of the food. , The young feed very 
largely on insects, including many very destructive species. 
While I have often observed the young birds feeding on 
