The Mentor, No. 34,
Game Birds of America
The Mentor
“A Wise and Faithful Guide and Friend”.
Vol. 1 No. 34
GAME BIRDS OF AMERICA
RUFFED GROUSE
BOB WHITE
WILD TURKEY
CANADA GOOSE
MALLARD
CANVASBACK
By EDWARD H. FORBUSH, State Ornithologist of Massachusetts
Author of “Useful Birds and Their Protection,” “AHistory of Game Birds, Wild Fowl, and Shore Birds,” etc.
YOUNG GROUSE
The young bird learning to perch above the reach of prowlingenemies.
North America, when discovered by Columbus, probably containedmore game birds than any other continent. The greatfalling off in the number of these birds in recent times has beenaccentuated by the extinction of the passenger pigeon and the Eskimocurlew, and the rapid disappearance of many others, among which arethe whooping crane and the sandhill crane, great birds that are graduallybeing swept from the continent. The upland plover, formerly abundantin every suitable grassy region east of the Rocky Mountains, is now facingextinction, and its salvation is beyond hope, unless the regulations, protectingit at all times, recently made by the United States Department ofAgriculture, under the Weeks-McLean law, can be enforced. The railsdo not appear to have decreased in number quite so rapidly as have theshore birds; but from the king rail, the finest of them all, down to the sorathey are much less numerous than in the early years of the last century.
THE RUFFED GROUSE
A RUFFED GROUSE NEST
“Whir-r-r-r-r-r-r—clip-clip-clip—” Heavens! what was that? Anyhow,it’s gone, and nobody’s hurt. How well I recall the startling soundthat checked in an instant my headlong pursuit of a baby cottontail rabbitwhen, from the leaves almost beneath my feet, up sprang a feathered projectilewith thundering wings,which sped away in headlongflight through whirling leavesand bending twigs, disappearingin an instant in the thick of thetrees. There I (aged eight) stood,gazing after this new wonder,while little Cottontail made goodits escape. I had seen my firstgrouse, the king of game birds.
YOUNG GROUSE
Confident that they are hidden from the camera man.
In the North this grouse is known as the partridge; Southernersrecognize it as the pheasant; but how few of us know more about it!How few realize that it flies quietly when undisturbed, or that it has avariety of notes, ranging from the soft, cooing mother’s call to the harshscream or squeal with which shehurls herself at some enemy ofher brood. Many have hear