A BIRD INCIDENT. 



A common bird with us is the pheas- 

 ant and one of the most interesting inci- 

 dents of my life was in connection with 

 a family of pheasants. 



Crossing a woodland one summer 

 evening, making the dead leaves rustle 

 beneath my feet, I looked down, I hard- 

 ly know why, but it must have been in 

 order to save the little innocents. For 

 the brown leaves seemed to me to be 

 alive, very much alive, indeed. 



I stopped, dropped to a sitting posture, 

 and reached forth my hand, and to my 

 surprise they never tried to get away, 

 but cuddled up in a little frightened flock 

 right to my feet. I gathered them all 

 into my dress, twelve of them, cunning 

 little midgets, not larger than the end 

 of a man's thumb, and awaited develop- 

 ments. 



The parent birds were- near and soon 

 the mother began crying with a pitiful 

 call. I couldn't imitate it in any way, but 



it expressed tenderness, concern and fear. 

 Soon an angry frightened bird whirred 

 over my head, again and again, each time 

 nearer until she almost knocked off my 

 hat; she passed and getting just in front 

 of me, made feint of a broken wing, 

 and lay apparently helpless a little ahead. 

 I never saw anything more expressive 

 of anxiety than the actions of this bird. 

 I could not bear to tease her, so setting 

 the birdlings on the ground I withdrew 

 to a position where I could see the united 

 family and w r atched the mother love as 

 it went out to the helpless brood. The 

 words of the Master, "Oh, Jerusalem ! 

 Jerusalem ! how often would I have gath- 

 ered thy children together even as a hen 

 gathereth her chickens and ye would 

 not," never before came to me with such 

 force. Truly the maternal instinct, next 

 to love of the Divine, is the most sacred 

 thing in the world. 



Mary Noland. 



GROUSE. 



The name Grouse is supposed to 

 come from gorse — furze or heath — and 

 is applied to many game birds in the 

 family Tetraonidae. 



The great majority of Grouse belong 

 to the northern part of America, but in 

 England the Grouse may be said to have 

 had an effect upon history, as parliament 

 used always to rise when the season for 

 shooting Grouse arrived! 



The red Grouse is indigenous to Great 

 Britain, but is represented in other north- 

 ern countries by the Willow Grouse, 

 which assumes a protective white color 

 in winter, except that the tail remains 

 black. 



The Ruffled Grouse, or pheasant, has 

 caused much dispute in reference to how 

 it produces the drumming sound which 

 can be heard at a long distance, and 

 which musical exercise is no doubt in- 

 tended as a noisy courtship in wooing 

 his mate. 



The distinctive name, "Ruffled," comes 

 from the ruff of dark feathers, with irri- 

 descent green and purple tints which 



surrounds the neck. This bird has a 

 slight crest and a beautifully barred tail. 

 Its note is a hen-like cluck. No bird has 

 handsomer eyes, with their deep expand- 

 ing pupils and golden brown iris. 



In a beautiful ravine — which was car- 

 peted with green moss a foot deep and 

 shaded by evergreen trees hung in soft 

 gray mosses — on an uninhabited island 

 in northern Lake Superior, I once saw 

 some Canada Grouse so tame that it ap- 

 peared as if they might easily be taken 

 in one's hands. The parent birds were 

 on one side of the trail, the young ones in 

 a tree on the other side. All kept quite 

 still for me to look at them, only the 

 young ones lifted their wings slightly, 

 as if wishing to fly across to their parents, 

 who seemed to have an expression as 

 of astonishment at seeing so strange a 

 sight as a human being in their unfre- 

 quented solitudes. The gentlemen of 

 our camping party declared that these 

 Grouse were so tame it would seem a 

 crime to shoot them. 



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