752 
Among the Birds of the Yosemite. 
where the Mono Desert meets the gray 
foothills of the Sierra; but since cattle 
have been pastured there they are be¬ 
coming rarer every year. 
Another magnificent bird, the blue or 
dusky grouse, next in size to the sage 
cock, is found all through the main forest 
belt, though not in great numbers. They 
like best the heaviest silver - fir woods 
near garden and meadow openings, where 
there is but little underbrush to cover the 
approach of enemies. When a flock of 
these brave birds, sauntering and feed¬ 
ing on the sunny flowery levels of some 
hidden meadow or Yosemite valley far 
back in the heart of the mountains, see a 
man for the first time in their lives, they 
rise with hurried notes of surprise and ex¬ 
citement and alight on the lowest branches 
of the trees, wondering what the wander¬ 
er may be, and showing great eagerness 
to get a good view of the strange vertical 
animal. Knowing nothing of guns, they 
allow you to approach within a half dozen 
paces, then quietly hop a few branches 
higher or fly to the next tree without a 
thought of concealment, so that you may 
observe them as long as you like, near 
enough to see the fine shading of their 
plumage, the feathers on their toes, and 
the innocent wonderment in their beauti¬ 
ful wild eyes. But in the neighborhood 
of roads and trails they soon become shy, 
and when disturbed fly into the highest, 
leafiest trees, and suddenly become invis¬ 
ible, so well do they know how to hide 
and keep still and make use of their pro¬ 
tective coloring. Nor can they be easily 
dislodged ere they are ready to go. In 
vain the hunter goes round and round 
some tall pine or fir into which he has 
perhaps seen a dozen enter, gazing up 
through the branches, straining his eyes 
while his gun is held ready; not a fea¬ 
ther can he see unless his eyes have been 
sharpened by long experience and know¬ 
ledge of the blue grouse’s habits. Then, 
perhaps, when he is thinking that the tree 
must be hollow and that the birds have 
all gone inside, they burst forth with a 
startling whir of wing-beats, and after 
gaining full speed go skating swiftly away 
through the f orest arches in a long, silent, 
wavering slide, with wings held steady. 
During the summer they are most of 
the time on the ground, feeding on in¬ 
sects, seeds, berries, etc., around the mar¬ 
gins of open spots and rocky moraines, 
playing and sauntering, taking sun baths 
and sand baths, and drinking at little 
pools and rills during the heat of the 
day. In winter they live mostly in the 
trees, dependingon buds for food, shelter¬ 
ing beneath dense overlapping branches 
at night and during storms on the lee- 
side of the trunk, sunning themselves on 
the southside limbs in fine weather, and 
sometimes diving into the mealy snow to 
flutter and wallow, apparently for exer¬ 
cise and fun. 
I have seen young broods running 
beneath the firs in June at a height of 
eight thousand feet above the sea. On the 
approach of danger, the mother with a 
peculiar cry warns the helpless midgets 
to scatter and hide beneath leaves and 
twigs, and even in plain open places it is 
almost impossible to discover them. In 
the meantime the mother feigns lame¬ 
ness, throws herself at your feet, kicks 
and gasps and flutters, to draw your at¬ 
tention from the chicks. The young are 
generally able to fly about the middle of 
July ; but even after they can fly well 
they are usually advised to run and hide 
and lie still, no matter how closely ap¬ 
proached, while the mother goes on with 
her loving, lying acting, apparently as 
desperately concerned for their safety 
as when they were featherless infants. 
Sometimes, however, after carefully 
studying the circumstances, she tells them 
to take wing ; and up and away in a blur¬ 
ry birr and whir they scatter to all points 
of the compass, as if blown up with gun¬ 
powder, dropping cunningly out of sight 
three or four hundred yards off, and keep¬ 
ing quiet until called, after the danger 
is supposed to be past. If you walk on 
a little way without manifesting any in- 
