Birds that hunt and are hunted; life histories of one hundred and seventy birds of prey, game birds and water-fowls (1912) (14749238962)

Identifier: cu31924090302104 (find matches)

Title: Birds that hunt and are hunted; life histories of one hundred and seventy birds of prey, game birds and water-fowls

Year: 1912 (1910s)

Authors: Blanchan, Neltje, 1865-1918

Subjects: Birds of prey Game and game-birds Waterfowl

Publisher: Garden City, N. Y., Doubleday, Page

Contributing Library: Cornell University Library

Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

Text Appearing Before Image:

uble; and as they are, in myopinion, the most delicious of all grouse for the table, they aregathered up unsparingly. When carnage like this masqueradesunder the title of sport, evidently the extinction of the bluegrouse, like that of many another choice game bird, is imminent.From an altitude of about seven thousand feet to timber line,coming down to the side hills and lower gulches, where food ismore abundant for young broods in summer, the dusky grouseusually haunts rough slopes covered with dense forests of spruceand pine, and neither migrates nor strays far from its birthplace,though constantly roving. Solitary for part of the year, or foundin small parties of three or four adults at most, it is chiefly whilethe young are partly dependent on the mother—for the male isan indifferent father—that one meets a covey of from seven toten feeding on bearberries, raspberries, and other wild fruits,insects, especially grasshoppers, tender leaves, and leaf buds, 268 t> *J )9 1 ^J^f*I

Text Appearing After Image:

w Pi -s >■ 3 lid . ;x: Bob Whites, Grouse, etc. reserving the buds of the pine and the scales or seeds of its conesfor winter fare, when nearly all other food is buried under snow.Heavy snowfalls send the grouse to roost in the evergreens, theirdusky plumage, that blends perfectly with the sombre coloringof the pines as they squat on the limbs, making them all butinvisible. Only early in the summer, when the young are unableto fly into the branches, do these tree-loving mountaineers rooston the ground. Approach a covey suddenly, and the beautiful,downy, nimble-footed chicks, that are by no means fools, scatterand hide among the bushes and under leaves, while the mother,flying in an opposite direction, alights in a tree, quite as if shehad no family to be looked for; so why waste time in the searchwhen she is in evidence? Moving her head from side to side, andlooking at the disturber of her peace with first one eye, then theother, she will remain squatting on the limb just overhea

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1912

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