THE PEEPING OPOSSUM 
05 
position to focus on the hole entrance. 
With my folding saw, which I always 
carry on a nature tramp, I cut three 
saplings which I tied to the tripod legs, 
thereby lengthening them just enough. 
I stood on the rock and put my long- 
legged camera in position. Everything 
being ready, my companion gave a 
poke with a small switch in an opening 
in the lower part of the limb. A couple 
of pokes and the opossum came up and 
stuck out its head, uttering a growl. 
They say that he who hesitates is lost. 
The opossum hesitated and lost its 
likeness. 
The Varied Diet of the Partridge. 
BY S. N. F. SANFORD, FALL RIVER, MASS. 
Notwithstanding the restrictions 
placed upon the killing of the ruffed 
grouse, or partridge, as it is more com- 
monly called, and the efforts of game 
commissioners to propagate these 
birds, they appear to be decreasing, at 
least in some parts of New England. 
A few years ago it was not unusual 
to find a partridge’s nest with a dozen 
or fifteen dirty, yellowish-brown eggs, 
lying against a stone wall or a stump, 
and flocks of these birds wheeled their 
whirring flight from under the feet of 
the startled naturalist. (Hunters are 
not supposed to be startled.) Now, the 
flushing of a single bird, or a pair, is 
the more common experience. 
Much of this decrease is undoubt- 
edly due to the development of farm- 
ing lands, the cutting of large tracts of 
timber, and the greater activity of gun- 
ners, but the severity of the New Eng- 
land winter as a cause is not so ap- 
parent. The partridge is a hardy bird, 
and in its northern range the winter 
conditions are often unfavorable, but 
the very great variety of food upon 
which it can live — grasshoppers to 
woody twigs — will long delay extermi- 
nation by starvation. 
This element of safety was empha- 
sized recently when the well-filled 
stomach of a partridge was brought to 
the writer for an analysis of the con- 
tents. The deeper student of bird life 
knows how varied is the diet of this 
species, adapting its taste to the season, 
but other readers may be interested in 
the list of articles eaten by this particu- 
lar bird for its Thanksgiving dinner. 
200 berries of the wild lily of the val- 
ley ( Maiatithemum canadense Desf. ). 
270 large seeds of poison ivy ( Rhus 
Toxicodendron L.). 
15 leaflets, mostly entire, creeping 
blackberry (Rubus hispidus L.). 
2 leaflets (pinnae) of Spinulose 
shield fern ( Aspidium spinulosum var.). 
6 leaves of field sorrel ( Rurnex Aceto- 
sella L.). Small leaves. 
1 leaf of five-finger, Cinquefoil (Po- 
tentilla canadensis L.). Small. 
2 leaves of early low blueberry ( Vac - 
cinium pennsylvanicum Lam.), probably. 
2 leaves of shinleaf ( Pyrola americana 
sweet; formerly P. rotundifolia) . Small. 
7 leaves, 2 large, miscellaneous 
plants. Two species represented. 
50 twigs, with buds, of early low 
blueberry (V ac cinium pennsylvanicum 
Lam.), one-half inch long. 
While it is true that all of the plants 
named at once identify the bird as a 
“near-ground feeder,” the important de- 
duction and reasonable conclusion is 
that if the partridge is capable of get- 
ting nourishment from so many things, 
starvation, even during a severe win- 
ter, will not be an important factor in 
its decrease. Recent reports indicate 
that wherever 1919 was a closed season 
partridges have again become more nu- 
merous. 
Winter Canaries. 
BY C. D. ROMIG, AUDENRIED, PENNSYLVANIA. 
Several times this winter I have seen 
a flock of small birds resembling in 
flight and tone our canaries. The first 
week in January the flock was enor- 
mous, consisting of at least several 
hundred birds. When they alighted 
on the trees near me they seemed to be 
gray in color, yet of this I am not abso- 
lutely sure. 
I was greatly impressed by the sweet 
call of the leader. It was exactly like 
the voice of the canary in the warm sea- 
son. This is the first winter in which 
I have seen these birds and as it is 
about as cold here as in New York 
state, and nearly two thousand feet 
above sea level, I have wondered what 
it means. 
Some Good in All Nature. 
When the famous old man Epictetus 
Was bled near to death by mosquitos 
’Twas his custom to say — 
“ ’Tis the Lord’s blessed way, 
More patience, more patience to teach us.” 
— S. N. F. Sanford, Fall River, Mass. 
