Ruffed Grouse 
and eaten 
by Ig-Pge 
Hawk 
Spent afternoon in Birch Field. Where the cart 
path leaves it to enter the woods lying between it and the 
Farm, I found about 4 P. M. a great quantity of Partridge 
feathers, apparently nearly if not quite all that had 
belonged to a fine old gray-tailed, black-ruffed cock, 
perhaps the one that has drummed for so many years on the 
wall in Barrett Run. 
He had evidently been seized among some dense young 
pines bordering the east side of the path. Here I found 
his ruffs and twenty rectrices besides many of the body 
feathers. Another large pile of feathers, chiefly from his 
sides and breast, lay in the middle of the path and among 
these were his entrails which seemed to be entire, although 
somewhat bruised and matted together. The upper part of 
his skull and a small fragment of bone lay on the western 
edge of the path with his primaries, secondaries and 
various other feathers. Here, apparently, the bird of prey 
which quite evidently had been the murderer had gorged 
himself with the flesh of his victim. It may have been 
either during or just after his repast that he voided his 
chalky white excrement. I found no less than six splashes 
of it on the dry leaves, each of them almost continuous 
for a foot or more and two inches broad in places. This 
indicated a Hawk or Owl of the largest size as did also 
the fact that the skull had been cut through in several 
places (across the frontal bone and both orbital bones) a 
cleanly a s if with some powerful steel implement. Nothing 
