seconds. Numerous photographs were taken, 
but after the first two or three days the cock 
became so pugnacious that he would stop 
drumming to fight, if any one (except a certain 
little girl) came near the enclosure. 
“By spring the flock consisted of three hens 
and two cocks. One of the hens had been 
‘reared from the egg; the others had been 
captured the fall before. Only the hen reared 
from the egg laid. As just stated, the first 
egg was found April 17. This was dropped 
on the floor. The hen then made her nest in 
the most secluded corner of the house—an 
ordinary hen’s nest, in fact—and laid the 
remaining nine eggs of her clutch in this. The 
last egg was laid May 3, and May 4 she was 
found brooding. Five of the eggs hatched 
vigorous, normal chicks on the morning of May 
27, making the incubation period twenty-four 
days. Nearly mature chicks were found in the 
other eggs. 
“TI was unfortunately obliged to be away 
when the brood came off, and for some days 
before. A letter received from Mr. Battelle on 
the eve of my departure stated that if, as the 
weather got warm, ‘the hen spends a good deal 
; of time off the eggs, do not be alarmed. She 
knows better than we whether she is over- 
heating her eggs or not.’ I regretted my neglect 
to show this letter to the one who was left in 
charge at first, but have since contented myself 
with the thought that the lesson was worth the 
price. The hen was thought to have deserted 
f her nest; five of the eggs were slipped under a 
; brooding bantam, the hen returned to her task 
and just five of the eggs hatched. Which five is 
not altogether certain, but probably the five 
that were not cooked under the bantam, 
although I have had no trouble with bantam 
hens in hatching the eggs. There is probably 
-some difference in the body temperature of the 
two birds, though I have not tested this matter. 
» “The cocks of the ruffed grouse are evidently 
; polygamous. I observed the ‘wild’ cock 
7 -mate with the two ‘wild’ hens. The hens, 
however, permitted mating but once, and after 
mating, if left together, the cock will peck the 
hen to death. Mr. Battelle writes me that he 
had a hen killed in this way, ‘her skull being 
pecked as bare as a billiard ball.’ I therefore 
watched the pair very closely after seeing them 
mate, to ascertain whether Mr. Battelle’s was 
an exceptional case. The pair got along 
peaceably for three days, but early in the 
morning of the fourth day I found the cage 
filled with plucked feathers, and the hen’s 
skull pecked ‘bare as a billiard ball.’ Had I 
been a few minutes later, she would probably 
have been killed. I put about forty fine silk 
stitches in the mangled scalp, under antiseptic 

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THE GAME FIELD 
77 
precautions, and the hen was apparently as well 
as ever. The above would indicate that mating 
occurs but once in a season, that the cocks drive 
the hens away after mating, and that probably 
the drumming is for the purpose of attracting 
unmated hens. 
““My permit for the year allowed me to take 
seven eggs. Mr. M. Leticq had under permit 
captured a brooding ruffed grouse and made 
the experiment of removing the bird and nest 
to his yard, to see if she might not continue 
sitting and bring off her brood. Not wishing to 
risk. all the sixteen eggs at first, Mr. Leticq 
brought me ten, and had them put under a 
bantam. The grouse hen deserted and soon 
died, so these eggs were made to serve my pur- 
pose. I simply wished to have some eggs hatch- 
ing about the time my own would come off, 
so that, in case those laid in confinement were 
not fertile the first year, I could give the grouse 
hen some chicks to bring up. Since the eggs 
laid in captivity proved fertile, the chicks from 
-these eggs, all of which hatched, were allowed 
to remain with the bantam hen. 
“Rearing the young birds for the first three 
weeks was, aside from extra precautions in 
preparing the foods, practically as easy as 
rearing so many bantam chicks. They grew 
rapidly, and, the weather at first being favor- 
able, developed into apparently hardy, vigor- 
ous specimens, perfectly clean and free from 
vermin or disease. They were given the run 
of the large cage, and sought the shelter of the 
house at night. At the end of a week they could 
fly skort distances, and when two weeks old 
began to roost by themselves, instead of brood- 
ing with the hens. In fact, they roosted in the 
branches with which the house was filled, 
alongside their respective mothers. 
“The grouse mother was quiet, and at first 
brooded her chicks much more than the hen. 
She never scratched, was extremely solicitous 
of her brood—-so actively so that it was neces- 
sary, after a first accidental encounter with the 
bantam hen, to protect the hen from her. 
She was not seen to offer her chicks an insect, 
maggot or other morsel of food, as hens do; 
but this was not necessary, since the chicks 
were perfectly able to feed themselves. She 
was also never seen to partake of any of the 
food provided for the young. She was in every 
respect a model mother. The contrast between 
the bustling, blustering, scratching hen—a 
bottomless pit for maggots or custard—and 
the gentle partridge, emphasizes the point 
that as quiet hens as can be obtained should be 
selected for rearing the grouse chicks; but after 
doing this, and after trying all sorts of schemes 
for inducing the hen to brood her chicks as 
much as possible, I often felt that I would like 
