File:American forestry (1910-1923) (17959631219).jpg

Title: American forestry
Identifier: americanforestry251919amer (find matches)
Year: 1910-1923 (1910s)
Authors: American Forestry Association
Subjects: Forests and forestry
Publisher: Washington, D. C. : American Forestry Association
Contributing Library: The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden
Digitizing Sponsor: The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden

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Text Appearing Before Image:
"BIDDY", AN ORIGINAL BIRD BY CLINTON G. ABBOTT (»(. B IDDY" did something no other grouse was ever Ivnown to do. This in itself is quite an achievement in an old world in which it is supposedly impossible to be original. Per- haps at some unknown time or in some obscure place, under an environment which creates a like line of bird thought, some other Biddy did what this remarkable bird has done. If so, there is no known record of it. To relieve the suspense and start the narrative, it should be known that "Biddy" tamed herself, and thereby got into the movies. Be it further known that the proper name of the bird to which this pet name is applied is the rufifed grouse. although incorrectly called the partridge in parts of the north woods. All of her family are beautifully marked and extremely shy woods birds, which shoot up from your feet with a rushing whirr of wings. The camouflage of her striped brown coat is protection from the keenest eyes, so that the danger of detec- tion is slight, except during the flashing flight to greater safety. The still and moving pictures of Biddy and the story of her unique adoption of man was told by the writer in a talk on Wild Life in the New York State Forests, at the September meeting of the New York State Forestry Association at Lake Placid Club, New York. The appearance of this particular bird, both in the movies and in print, is due to the fact that all attempts to tame or domesticate the rufifed grouse have absolutely failed. In no recorded case have either young or adult birds shown the slight- est confidence in human beings. The baby grouse hatched from eggs set under hens will almost immediately after breaking the shell dart to the nearest hiding place and remain as suspicious as though in their natural environment; while in the woods they scatter and hide completely at the first signal of danger. At such times the mother bird will flutter along in plain sight as if wounded, but after leading the enemy away from her nest or young by such tactics, suddenly takes flight and is gone. The voluntary adoption and apparent desire for human com- panionship by this particular bird after being raised in the woods and reaching full size, is in every way remark-
Text Appearing After Image:
AN UNUSUAL CONVERSATION "Biddy"—the queer little bird which, in defiance of all recorded laws of instinct and habit, sought and apparently thoroughly enjoyed the com- panionship of man, her hereditary enemy. 945

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