File:Bird lore (1920) (14568809989).jpg

Identifier: birdlore221920nati (find matches)
Title: Bird lore
Year: 1899 (1890s)
Authors: National Committee of the Audubon Societies of America National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals National Audubon Society
Subjects: Birds Birds Ornithology
Publisher: New York City : Macmillan Co.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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ch this bird at closerange, and even then fortune must favor you. By walking swiftly in his direc-tion every time that the bird drums and by remaining motionless during theinterval of quiet, you may sometimes approach to within thirty yards, if thecover be thick or an intervening ridge hide you from view. Whether yousucceed in creeping nearer depends upon the position in which the Grouse isstanding, the cover which you may utilize for your concealment, and yourcapacity for remaining motionless in whatever intolerable position the cessa-tion of the drumming may find you. On one occasion, by taking advantage oftwo large stumps that lay between me and the log on which he was strutting,I was able to crawl to within twenty feet of a cock Grouse, from which point ofvantage I watched him drum to my hearts content. At another time, at theedge of a little alder swamp, where the ground was soggy and no tell-tale leafor dry twig betrayed my tortuous progress, I succeeded in reaching the upturned
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A QUICK OUTWARD AND DOWNWARD STROKE WITH THE WINGSPhotographed by H. E. Tuttle ^141) 142 Bird - Lore roots of a prostrate tree on the other side of which was the watchful Grouse.I held my breath while I peered around the earthwork which clung to the rootsand discovered the tail-feathers of the drumming bird braced across the log,scarcely ten inches from my nose! The use of a denim blind makes crawling unnecessary, and from this shelter,if you have set it up with caution and entered it before dawn, you may watchthe drumming with comparative comfort. I have often been grateful to thenaturalist who by this simple but effective method of concealment first beguiledthe birds in their innocency. Hidden from all espionage beneath its folds ofdappled green, I have watched the cock Grouse walk to his drum-log withnoisy footsteps, confident after an hour of stealthy reconnoitering that nohostile eye intruded on his privacy. Here he felt safe to indulge his vanityand preened each feather, disarra

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