ually on the ear.

The hen is an affectionate mother, and takes every means, when a
stranger approaches her nest, to lead him away from the spot.

Wilson describes observing a hen-pheasant depart from this usual custom.
He came suddenly upon one with a young bird in her company. The mother
fluttered before him for a short time, when suddenly darting towards the
young one, she seized it in her bill, and flew off along the surface of
the ground through the woods, with great steadiness and rapidity, till
she was beyond his sight, leaving him in much surprise at the incident.
He searched round, but could find no other birds.

Here was a striking instance of something more than "blind instinct"--by
the adoption of the most simple and effectual means for the preservation
of her solitary young one--in this remarkable deviation from the usual
manoeuvres of the bird when she has a numerous brood.

The ruffed grouse is of a rich chestnut-brown, mottled with brown and
grey; while on each shoulder are the curious ruffs, or tufts, from which
he obtains his name, of a rich velvety black, glossed with green. The
skin beneath them is bare; the tail is grey, barred with blackish-brown.

Another species of grouse, smaller than the two former, inhabits Canada.

PASSENGER-PIGEONS.

Flights of locusts are often seen passing through the air, like vast
clouds, obscuring the sky. The passenger-pigeon of America appears in
almost equal numbers. The accounts of their vast nights would be
incredible, were they not thoroughly well authenticated.

They are beautiful birds; the males being about sixteen inches in
length, the females slightly smaller, and usually of less attractive
plumage. The head, part of the neck, and chin of the male bird, are of
a slaty-blue colour; the lower portions being also of a slate colour,
banded with gold, green, and purplish-crimson, changing as the bird
moves here and there. Reddish-hazel feathers cover the throat and
breast, while the upper tail-coverts and back are of a dark slaty-blue.
Their other feathers are black, edged with white; and the lower part of
the breast and abdomen are purplish-red and white. The beak is black,
and the eyes of a fiery orange hue, with a naked space round them of
purplish-red.

Its chief food is the beech-mast; but it also lives on acorns, and grain
of all sorts--especially rice. It is calculated that each bird eats
half a pint of food in the day; and when we recollec