fh M >: ' 't- k Li fHh 



A 



IMiiitu bj Gcoigc bhiras, 3rd 

 ANOTHER VITtW OF THK YOUNG BUT, I, -MOOSE Wild WAS FORCllJLY EDUCATED (SEE 



PAGES 449 AND 450) 



accuracy, the daring mother escaped 

 -with the liawk in fierce pursuit. Here, 

 ai^'ain, the slow speed enticed the hawk 

 some 50 yards away, when the hen 

 dropped Hke a plummet into a bunch of 

 alders, while the hawk seated himself 

 on a near-by limb to plan anew his 

 breakfast. 



"I')Ut the defeated aviator knew very 

 well that two from eight left a substan- 

 tial lialance, however deficient the math- 

 ematical process, and once more he re- 

 turned for a survey of the tant^led moss. 

 This time he was met by a shout and a 

 waiving hat from the spruce Ijlind, and, 

 much disgruntled, soared away, douljt- 

 less wondering at the intervention of a 

 third party, a wonderment that would 

 have been still greater had it known the 

 deadly relation between man and everv 

 bird and every animal ])0ssessing' tooth- 

 some qualities, or whose plumes, ])elage, 

 or antlers had a monetarv or trophy 

 value." 



In such efforts to sa\e the young it 

 was clear that the parent birds possessed 

 the same bravery and the same cunning 



methods in misleading an aerial enemy 

 that they did a terrestrial one. 



Jn the Kenai Peninsula the timber line 

 is about 2,000 feet, and onh- twice were 

 willow ptarmigan noticed below it, where 

 they were feeding in an open glade upon 

 the earlier growth of swamp huckle- 

 berries. The usual abodes of this bird 

 are the tablelands along upland streams 

 terminating in ravines, where the willows 

 and small bushes succeed the limit of 

 arboreal growth. The rock ptarmigan 

 either stays at the vtvy crest of the 

 mountains or on the sloping sides, where 

 the lichens and patches of grass denote 

 the limit of all vegetation. On the other 

 hand the spruce partridge remains well 

 within the forested area and is usually to 

 be found in river bottoms or in the 

 second-growth, burnt-over portions of 

 the lowlands ( see pages 467 and 4(x)). 



Thus these three species of Nortliern 

 grouse, while occu])ying adjoining ground, 

 are largely if not wholly controlled by 

 the distribution of plant life rather than 

 that of any given altitude. 



(^iie afternoon I saw a small and ai> 

 parently 3oung red fox coming rapidly 



4.s6 



