SHARP-TAILED GROUSE 263 
one, we find the nest to be merely a few spears of grass, 
pressed down and somewhat circularly arranged with, 
in all probability, a few feathers that appear to have 
rather been mechanically detached from the mother 
bird than laid down by design. If the place is near our 
northern border, and early in June, we shall probably 
find the eggs quite fresh; but by the third week of that 
month they will be about hatching. At this period, 
should we, for any sufficient reason, destroy the setting 
bird, we should find her in sad plight—her plumage, 
harsh and worn, entirely gone from a large space on 
her belly; her flesh thin and flabby, and her crop con- 
taining only a few buds of some weed that grows 
close by her nest, with some grasshoppers or other 
insects. 
“No bird is a more faithful mother than this grouse; 
no one clings to her eggs more steadfastly, or guards 
her young with more sedulous care. In proof of how 
close she will set while incubating, let me mention two 
instances that came under my observation. One poor 
bird was actually trodden upon and killed, and some 
of her eggs smashed. On another occasion, I drove 
a large four-mule ambulance over a nest; the animals 
shied as they stepped over it, when the bird fluttered 
out from between their legs. Stopping instantly, I 
discovered the nest just between the hinder wheels. 
The grouse lies hard and close, never relinquishing hope 
of escaping observation until the last moment. 
“The young, as usual among gallinaceous birds, run 
about almost as soon as they are hatched, and it is in- 
