NATURAL HISTORY. 



When a bird or a wild animal is killed, that's the end of it. If photographed, it may still live and its educational 



and scientific value is multiplied indefinitely. 



DO GROUSE DRINK? 

 A. F. RICE. 



In the most famous book published in 

 recent years on the subject of animated na- 

 ture the author speaks of a mother grouse 

 leading her brood to the brook to drink and 

 pictures them in the act of sipping the 

 water, as we all have seen domestic fowls 

 do. I was sitting one evening with this 

 author, the Director of the Zoological Park, 

 the editor of the most widely read sports- 

 men's magazine published in this country, 

 a professor of Columbia College, and one 

 or 2 other men, all well versed in bird and 

 animal lore, and I asked this question : 

 "Did any of you ever see a grouse drink?" 

 The author answered quickly in the affirm- 

 ative, stopped and thought a moment 

 and tlien, with characteristic frankness, cor- 

 rected himself. 



"No, on reflection, I have never seen 

 grouse drink, but I have followed their 

 tracks to the water's edge, -flushed 

 them on the margins of brooks, and 

 know, of course, that they, like every 

 other bird, must drink." None of the other 

 gentlemen were able to contribute testimony 

 any more exact, although they thought with 

 the author that there could be little doubt 

 as to the matter. Since that time I have 

 asked many people the same question, and 

 have yet to find the man, woman or child 

 who ever actually saw a grouse drink. By 

 drinking I mean, of course, dipping the bill 

 into the water as hens do. I repeat this 

 inquiry to all the readers of Recreation and 

 shall examine with much interest the replies 

 that are certain to be made. 



My reasons for setting this inquiry on 

 foot are that, personally, I do not think 

 grouse take their liquid nourishment in the 

 manner above described, and that I consider 

 nothing in the life and habits of the wild 

 creatures too unimportant to know about 

 with absolute accuracy. Perhaps there are 

 few things more satisfactory to the lover of 

 animal nature than the knowledge picked 

 up by actual observation ; the resolving of 

 doubts into certainties by witnessing with 

 his own eyes the strange things that are 

 constantly happening in the woods and 

 fields; the acquisition of direct evidence, 

 that establishes a fact or proves the fallacy 

 of what had previously been considered a 

 fact. It may happen that once in a life- 

 time a man is privileged to see the snake 

 shed his skin or the buck his antlers ; to 

 catch a sight of the grouse drumming or the 

 cuckoo laying her eggs in another bird's 

 nest; but the chances are he will never see 



these things at all and has to take his in- 

 formation on faith. Now, faith has been 

 described as "the evidence of things un- 

 seen," and being in no position to prove the 

 contrary, it often happens that he accepts 

 without question the erroneous notion of 

 others and thenceforth he himself becomes 

 a vehicle for spreading false theories. Per- 

 haps he has succeeded in convincing himself 

 that the porcupine can throw its quills at 

 its enemies ; or that the beaver has human 

 intelligence ; or that the eagle follows ar- 

 mies to gorge himself on the slain ; or that 

 the serpent has power to charm a man 

 and draw him within reach of his fangs ; 

 and so there comes to be a confusion be- 

 tween the strange things that are true and 

 the strange things that are false. Excep- 

 tions and half truths do not constitute gen- 

 eral facts. Let us therefore have " a cloud 

 of witnesses" and settle all these questions 

 beyind a doubt. 



Returning to the grouse : I do not af- 

 firm that they do not drink, and the fact 

 that I can not find any one who has sur- 

 prised them in the act does not prove any- 

 thing; but my reason for thinking so is 

 this : I have heard of a case where a man 

 captured a full grown grouse and put it in 

 a cage in the hope of taming it. He placed 

 food and water before it, and after a time 

 the bird ate a little; but as far as the man 

 could see the grouse did not touch the 

 water, and soon began to droop. After a 

 day or 2, in attempting to change the water, 

 the man spilled some on the top of the 

 cage and it trickled down the bars. The 

 grouse immediately showed animation and 

 greedily plucked off the drops. Evidently 

 it had been accustomed to take its water in 

 that way, in the form of dew or rain on the 

 leaves and grasses. As long as the bird 

 remained in captivity I understand water 

 was given to it in that way, and it would 

 never drink otherwise. 



I am aware that I have not proved my 

 case, and I am not trying to ; I am merely 

 in search of information for myself and 

 others, and I expect to get it through 

 Recreation. A few years ago a discussion 

 was started in one of the sporting maga- 

 zines as to whether or not deer ate lily pads. 

 I was sure they did, because my wife had 

 killed a buck with a lily pad in his mouth, 

 and because I had seen in remote ponds, 

 where no cattle could ever go, acres of 

 pads, the stalks of which had been nipped 

 off Nevertheless, it was astonishing how 

 many men were willing to declare positively 

 that deer do. not eat lily pads. These gen- 



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