THE RUFFED GROUSE'S STORY
The Ruffed Grouse cocked his crested head on one side and looked upthrough the bare branches to the sky. It was a soft gray, and in thewest were banks of bluish clouds. "I think it will snow very soon," saidhe. "Mrs. Grouse, are the children all ready for cold weather?"
"All ready," answered his cheerful little wife. "They have had theirthickest feathers on for quite a while. The Rabbits were saying theother day that they had never seen a plumper or better clothed flockthan ours." And her beautiful golden-brown eyes shone with pride as shespoke.
Indeed, the young Ruffed Grouse were a family of whom she might well beproud. Twelve healthy and obedient children do not fall to the lot ofevery Forest mother, and she wished with a sad little sigh that herother two eggs had hatched. She often thought of them with longing. Howlovely it would have been to have fourteen children! But at that momenther brood came crowding around her in fright.
"Some cold white things," they said, "came tumbling down upon us andscared us. The white things didn't say a word, but they came so fastthat we think they must be alive. Tell us what to do. Must we hide?"
"Why, that is snow!" exclaimed their mother. "It drops from the cloudsup yonder quite as the leaves drop from the trees in the fall. It willnot hurt you, but we must find shelter."
"What did I tell you, Mrs Grouse?" asked her husband. "I was certainthat it would snow before night. I felt it in my quills." And Mr. Grousestrutted with importance. It always makes one feel so very knowing whenhe has told his wife exactly what will happen.
"How did you feel it in your quills?" asked one of his children. "ShallI feel it in my quills when I am as old as you are?"
"Perhaps," was the answer. "But until you do feel it you can neverunderstand it, for it is not like any other feeling that there is."
Then they all started for a low clump of bushes to find shelter from thestorm. Once they were frightened by seeing a great creature cometramping through the woods towards them. "A man!" said Mr. Grouse."Hide!" said Mrs. Grouse, and each little Grouse hid under the leaves soquickly that nobody could see how it was done. One might almost thinkthat a strong wind had blown them away. The mother pretended that shehad a broken wing, and hopped away, making such pitiful sounds that theman followed to pick her up. When she had led him far from her children,she, too, made a quick run and hid herself; and although the man huntedeverywhere, he could not find a single bird.
You know that is always the way in Grouse families, and even if theman's foot had stirred the leaves under which a little one was hiding,the Grouse would not have moved or made a sound. The children arebrought up to mind without asking any questions. When their mother says,"Hide!" they do it, and never once ask "Why?" or answer, "As soon as Ihave swallowed this berry." It is no wonder that the older ones areproud of their children. Any mother would be made happy by having onechild obey like that, and think of having twelve!
At last, the whole family reached the bushes where they were to stay,and then they began to feed near by. "Eat all you can," said Mr. Grouse,"before the snow gets deep. You may not have another such good chancefor many days." So they ate until their little stomachs would not holdone more seed or evergreen bud.
All this time the snowflakes were falling, but the Grouse children wereno longer afraid of them. Sometimes they even chased and snapped at themas they would at a fly in summer-time. It was then, too, that theylearned to use snow-shoes. The oldest child had made a great fuss whenhe found a fringe of hard points growing around his toes in the fall,and had run peeping to his mother to ask her what was the matter. Shehad shown him her own feet, and had told him how all the Ruffed Grousehave snow-shoes of that kind grow on their feet every winter.
"We do not have to bother about them at all," she said. "They putthemselves on when the weather gets cold in the fall, and they takethemselves off when spring comes. We each have a new pair every year,and when they are grown we can walk easily over the soft snow. Withoutthem we should sink through and flounder."
When night came they all huddled under the bushes, lying close togetherto keep each other warm. The next day they burrowed into a snow-driftand made a snug place there which was even better than the one theyleft; the soft white coverlet kept the wind out so well. It was hard forthe little ones to keep quiet long, and to amuse them Mr. Grouse toldhow he first met their mother in the spring.
"It was a fine, sunshiny day," he said, "and everybody was happy. I hadfor some time been learning to drum, and now I felt that I was as good adrummer as there was in the forest. So I found a log (every RuffedGrouse has to have his own place, you know) and I jumped up on it andstrutted back and forth with my head high in the air. It was a duskypart of the forest and I could not see far, yet I knew that a beautifulyoung Grouse was somewhere near, and I hoped that if I drummed very wellshe might come to me."
"I know!" interrupted one of the little Grouse. "It was our mother."
"Well, it wasn't your mother then, my chick," said Mr. Grouse, "for thatwas long, long before you were hatched."
"She was our mother afterwards, anyway," cried the young Grouse. "I justknow she was!"
Mr. Grouse's eyes twinkled, but he went gravely on. "At lastI flapped my wing's hard and fast, and the soft drumming soundcould be heard far and near. 'Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump;thump-thump-rup-rup-rup-rup-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r.' I waited, but nobodycame. Then I drummed again, and after that I was sure that I heard arustling in the leaves. I drummed a third time, and then, children,there came the beautiful young Grouse, breaking her way through thethicket and trying to look as though she didn't know that I was there."
"Did she know?" cried the little Grouse.
"You must ask your mother that," he answered, "for it was she who came.Ah, what happy days we had together all spring! We wandered all throughthis great Forest and even made some journeys into the edge of theMeadow. Still, there was no place we loved as we did the dusky hollow bythe old log where we first met. One day your mother told me that shemust begin housekeeping and that I must keep out of the way while shewas busy. So I had to go off with a crowd of other Ruffed Grouse whileshe fixed her nest, laid her eggs, and hatched out you youngsters. Itwas rather hard to be driven off in that way, but you know it is thecustom among Grouse. We poor fellows had to amuse ourselves and eachother until our wives called us home to help take care of the children.We've been at that work ever since."
"Oh!" said one of the young Grouse. "Oh, I am so glad that you drummed,and that she came when she heard you. Who would we have had to take careof us if it hadn't happened just so?"
That made them all feel very solemn and Mr. Grouse couldn't answer, andMrs. Grouse couldn't answer, and none of the little Grouse could answerbecause, you see, it is one of the questions that hasn't any answer.Still, they were all there and happy, so they didn't bother theircrested heads about it very long.