Ruffed Grouse 
243 
and bird intelligence, her downy chicks are teach- 
ing us facts in protective colouration^and hered- 
ity. How the old one limps and flutters ! She 
can barely drag herself along the ground. But 
while we are watching her, what has become of 
the ten or a dozen little yellow balls we had 
almost stepped on? Not a feather do we see, 
until, poking about in the leaves, we find one 
little chap hiding here and another squatting 
there, all perfectly still, and so like the leaves 
in colour as to be nearly invisible.’’ 
