228 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
Like the chicks of other fowls, they could not seem to 
get settled for the night, but would stray in and out. 
Then as they sought a place of shelter again they 
would shove one of their fellows out from under the 
mother’s wing. However, as darkness grew the rest- 
lessness ceased, and by the time it was too dark to 
see the group everything was silent. How many there 
were in the bevy I could not tell, but it seemed that 
there must have been at least six or eight.” 
Though the number of these birds is so pitifully 
small, yet, as already suggested, they pack in the same 
way as does the western pinnated grouse. The report 
of the Massachusetts commissioners on fisheries and 
game for 1907 states that on January 11, 1908, a flock 
was counted which contained not less than fifty-five 
nor more than sixty birds. The same report declares 
that the birds remained in these flocks until late in 
February and began to utter their calls on the approach 
of warm weather, and when this takes place the flocks 
break up and the season for mating begins. The elabo- 
rate performances earlier described begin about April 
1, and end about the middle of June, being at their 
greatest height the last of April and early part of May. 
The chicks are hatched in June and in July. When 
about the size of quails they make long flights when 
alarmed. 
Among experiments carried on by the Massachusetts 
commission was the taking of a set of nine heath hen 
eggs, which were placed under a bantam hen. Only 
one of these eggs hatched, and the chick was at once 
