all the young had flown into nearby trees and not till then did
She: ease

Other females, probably all with broods although the young
were not seen in every instance, were noted near Prince George,
at Nukko Lake, Chief Lake, near Houston and, later in the summer ,
at Sixteen Mile Lake. These showed lack of concern in varying
degree--one that flew from the ground to a nearby stump allowed
an approach within 12 feet (Fig 38}. Two of the three adult males
which came under observation were less confiding. The third,
flushed at Summit Lake, June 27, alighted 10 feet above the ground
in an alder and when I stood directly beneath his perch he merely
moved his head from side to side and shifted about on the branch

At Sixteen Mile Lake in the latter part of August, two broods,
one of seven, the other of eight nearly full grown birds, came
under daily observation. Never before have I seen individuals of
this species so completely unconcerned in the presence of man.

They went about their various activities while I stood in full

view only a few feet from them. One picked up gravel on a road-
side, actually at my feet; at the same time another member of this
brood crossed the road and almost brushed my shoe in passing.
Another took a dust bath in a shaded spot on a sunny hillside

while I focused a camera on it at about four feet. Several members
of another brood picked blueberries from the bushes; others perched
nearby on the lower branches of a spruce thicket while I stood
amongst them. A soft, cooing note was given constantly whether by
adult female or by both female and young was not determined.

Reports received from local residents are to the effect that
'fool hens! had been scarce in the autumn of 1943. The fact that
broods contained as many as seven and eight birds so late as the
last week in August (1944) would seem to evince that progress to a
higher population level is under way

Ruffed Grouse--Bonasa umbellus (Linnaeus).

Found to be very scarcé in the Baker Creek Valley where during
the month of May not more than four were seen, or heard drumming,
in the course of one day's walk that designedly passed through
what good grouse territory was sighted. In September, on much the
same territory, only two were flushed during parts of three days
spent in the woods

The only precise evidence of predation encountered during the

Summer was on May e4 near "Goose Lake" where a male had quite recently
been eaten on the ground beside a trail through lodgepole pine woods.

3685s