Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-11-16

ready to unfold its curious amber colored
blossoms, the true emblem of fall With the
symplocarpus, the chestnut and the ham
amcls you may form the paralelogram Of
tho seasons.
At this time the instinct of the hunter
shows itself In the race and many fircarm
finds lis way to the woods where the par
fridge. seeks lis cover. For the rutfed-
grouse (Bonasa umbelld, Steph.), among
the land-fowl has long been the favorate
gamebird of Northern New England. A poet
of our fields has well called it
Tho Hen OF the woods,
and the grouse were indeed the hens
and chicks of the Indian. This hardy
bird though hunted for its savory flesh since
the first settlement Of the country, still sur
wives and maintains itself in the midst of
the advancing civilization. Though present
throughout the year it is peculiarly feature
Of the fall and must ever be a prominent
figure in the BACKGROUND Of the rural life Of
old New England, and by its hardihood and
self-rciance is a typical product of the soil.
Its brother, the spruce partridge (Cdndce
Canddensis, Reich. J, is characteristic of the
Canadian fauna, and rarely seen except In
the mountains and northern portion OF the
State. The other member of the New
England grouse family is the Quail or Bob
white" which is limited northerly by the
Allegchaniau area and not often found north
OF Massachusetts. This is the partridge" of
the Southern states, where our bird is called
pheasant" a singular mixture of common
names attributed TO the carly settlers, who,
it is well known named common plants and
animals after some imaginary English proto-
type.
The ruffed-grousc is the genius of our
woodlands, and their sturdy inLabitant
in winter. Pass through the forest in
November and you are struck by the general
silence which prevails. The year is deal
and the birds have fed. Now and then q
chipmunk rustles the leaves or squirrel
banks. AS you are thinking how barren of
life are the woods, of sudden some grouse
rise In your path, and your thoughts reverse
in moment. They come up mysterlously
as If the very leaves had taken wing, and
with their loud prolonged rhi.r-r-r, drop
into another part of the wood. These then
are the haunts of the grouse. for they like the
hillsides and the runs leading down to the
level.
Towards the last of summer We come
upon covey of dozen birds feeding under
an oak. They detect the intruder first and
com municate their anxiety by an emphatic
cooling and clucking, ceremony often per-
formed before taking flight. Then they
rise and alight moment in tree and part
ing into two squads sail off through the
pines.
One day this month (Oct) we saw pair
Of grouse crossing an old wooded road in the
country. You see where one enters the bush
and sight him again presently. Proudly he
walks over the pine needles, with head raised
high and erected crest, the rufiie OF dark
silken feathers on either side the neck full
spread increasing the apparent size, shaking
at every step his broad fau-shaped tail, gray
ish in color, zoned and lined with black, now
lodging under bush and brake and gliding
over the leaves. Then mounting log he
struts along its length, and drops on the
leafy carpet again, and coming to an open
space scoots along at greater speed, but when
We approach too near rises aud whrrs out OF
sight. His tawny, reddish brown coat stands
him in good stead, for is not this the color
of the path he trcads
Early one May, while fishing trout
stream, was startled by the well-known
flight of this bird Close at hand, and saw her
run along PROSTATE tree and disappear in
the woods. Going to the spot a few
rods away. l discovered n nest of nine
crcam-colorcd eggs under the trees side,
ioiu III u hOiiOW III biouHNi % ioot IA
amctcr, which was lined with oak aud pine
leaves and with down from the bird
The young are usually out by the first OF
June, and the old birds resort to many queer
devices of strategy to preserve their offspring
iu time of danger. You stand still mo-
ment astonishcd to sec large object, whirl
round in your path like an animal half dead
or wounded, and when you approach the
cripple, the rusc has generally worked and
the young are safe. The chicks run about
soon after leaving the shell, threading the
woods and outskirts of the fields like so many
mice. Keeping close to their mother, whose
mandates they obey to the letter, lying squat
under the leaf assigned them when danger
is near, nor moving feather without the
word OF command from the parent.
1t is easy TO see why this species survives
the inroads of civilization, Prolific beyond
most birds of its size, laying from ten to a
dozen eggs TO the litter, cunning to avoid
danger and to shield the young when it ap-
proaches. able to withstand the cold of our
winters, for this is our only strictly seden-
tary bird, passing the whole year in the same
woodlands, while others which brave the
cold are rovers chiefly. The grouse arc the
cocks and hens of New England woods and
lhickets, scratching amid them for their
miscellaneous fare, gathering the mast under
the oak in fall and in mld-wlnter when other
food is denied them, subssling On the buds
of the trees. They sound the ruslle in
spring aud again at The close Of autumn.