226 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
twenty feet of where I had been watching. The bird 
had been within sight all the while, but probably had 
crouched in the leaves and remained invisible. It 
would have been interesting to note how much longer 
the bird would have stayed in this position without 
moving. Another bird was started some fifty feet 
from this one. 
“On this same day the toots of one or more heath 
hens were heard between half-past four and five A.M. 
The birds are early risers and late bed-goers. Once 
they were heard to foot at 3:30 a.M., or about an hour 
before sunrise; and several times their call note was 
heard as early as this. It is probable, though, that 
they do not begin to stir quite so early, beginning their 
breakfasting about sunrise or a little earlier. The mid- 
dle of the day is generally spent in the shade, or in dust- 
ing in the sun in the roads. Late in the afternoon, as 
the air begins to cool, they take to feeding again, and 
can be seen in the open fields. They will often feed 
till nearly an hour after sundown. I do not know 
whether they roost in the low shrubbery or on the 
ground at night. Mother birds with young, however, 
stay on the ground, but it is likely that this is done 
only while the young are too small to roost and need 
the shelter of the mother. 
“On June 29 a bevy of heath hens was found. The 
mother bird took flight, cackling, and flew some fifty 
feet or so. The young scudded in every direction, and 
were entirely out of sight by the time I reached the 
spot. I hunted around through the leaves some, but 
