Two
On the third day, the little guys have grown much stronger. When they encounter an acorn, they no longer have to go around the road. They can now even climb over pine cones. At the same time, several green and fat blood-colored feathers have grown on the two small pieces of flesh that will grow into wings in the future.
A good mother, two good legs, a few reliable natural instincts and a little bit of nascent reason create the conditions for the beginning of their lives. Innate instinct, that is, inherited habits, this instinct teaches them to listen to their mother's words and hide, and teaches them to follow their mother. However, when the sun is shining brightly, what makes them hide under their mother's tail is their reason. And from that day on, reason played an increasingly important role in their evolving lives.
The next day, many hair tips appeared on those bloody feathers. After another day, Maomao'er was already well out. A week later, the whole family's furry little guy was already flying vigorously.
But not all little ones are like this. Poor little Lundy has been sick since the first day he was born. After it was born, it carried half of its eggshell on its body for several hours. Compared with its brothers, it runs less and barks more. One night, a skunk came to attack them. The mother grouse called "Kavit, Kavit" (take off, take off), but little Lundy fell behind. When the hen grouse gathered a brood of chicks on a hill covered with pine trees, Lundy disappeared. They never saw it again.
At this time, the hen grouse continued to train them. They know that there are many of the best grasshoppers in the deep grass beside the stream. They also know that the small, smooth, green insects that fall from the red currant trees are very rich food. They know that , the big round bun of the ant hill standing on the edge of the forest in the distance is a rich food storehouse. They also understand that although strawberries are not real bugs, they taste almost as delicious as bugs; they know that catching big spots Butterfly is a fun and safe game, it's just not easy to catch, and you can be sure to find a lot of goodies in a piece of bark that fell off a rotten tree stump. At the same time, they also know that when encountering wasps, scorpions, caterpillars and earthworms, it is best not to touch them.
It’s July and it’s Strawberry Moon. The little ones have grown incredibly fast over the last month. They were all so big now that the mother grouse would have to stand all night if she wanted to cover them.
They had to bathe in sand every day, but later, they moved to another higher place on the hill to wash. This is where many different species of birds come to take dust baths.
All the little guys flew up, except for one stubborn little fool, still sleeping on the ground like before. That night, everything was normal, but the next night, the little guys were all woken up by its shouts. At first there was a slight squirming sound, then silence again, and then a terrifying sound of gnawing bones and smacking lips broke the silence. They stared into the terrible darkness below, saw two shining eyes crowded together, and smelled a musty smell, so they knew that the murderer who ate their brothers was a A mink.
Now every night, six little grouse always squat in a row on the tree, with the mother grouse sandwiched between them. But there are still a few little ones who often lift up their cold paws and climb onto their mother's back.
The mother grouse continued to train them, and it was about this time that they learned to "snap and take off." A grouse can take off silently if it wishes. But sometimes it is very important to "take off", so the hen grouse has to teach all the little guys how and when to flap their wings and fly. "Snap Takeoff" has many uses. When danger approaches, you can use it to warn other nearby grouse, and you can use it to scare hunters; you can also use it to focus the enemy's attention on the grouse that "takes off loudly" so that the rest of the grouse can be silent. Fly away secretly, or lie on the ground to avoid the enemy's attention.
There is an old saying about grouse, which goes something like this: "Every month has its enemies and its food." By September, seeds and grains have replaced nuts and ant eggs, and hunters with guns have replaced minks and skunks.
The grouse know very well what a fox looks like, but they have never seen what a dog looks like. They understand that it is very easy to make a fox fly into the air. All it takes is to fly up a tree. But during the hunter's month, old Cuddy took the short-tailed yellow mutt out into the valley and drove around, and the mother grouse spotted the dog and said, "Cavit! Cavit!" (Take off, Take off) shouted. There were two little grouse, and they felt so pitiful to see their mother being so easily confused by a fox. So, even though the mother grouse was anxiously shouting "Cavit! Cavit!" and setting an example by quickly flying away without making a sound, they flew to a tree and showed off triumphantly. Their heroism.
At this moment, the weird short-tailed fox ran under the tree and barked at them. The two little grouse thought it was quite interesting, and they also thought their mother and brothers were very funny. They were so happy that they didn't pay attention to the rustling sound in the bushes. Then there were two popping sounds, and they flapped their wings bloody After falling down, they were caught and bitten by the yellow dog. It was not until the hunter ran out of the bushes that he saved the two grouse carcasses.
Three
Kedi lives in a small dilapidated house north of Toronto, near the Don River. The life he lived, from the perspective of Greek philosophy, was very ideal. He has no property, no burdens, no demands for fame or fortune, and no commendable family fortune. He worked very little in his life and spent most of his time in games and outdoor life as he pleased. He considered himself a real hunter because he "loved hunting" and because after he fired the gun, he "felt happy when he saw his prey fall to the ground." Neighbors called him a "trespasser" and saw him as a homeless man who was here for a while. He captures animals with traps and guns all year round, and sometimes changes his tricks slightly according to the needs of the season. But someone said that if he forgot the calendar, he could tell which month it was by the "look of the grouse." There is no doubt that this shows that he has a deep understanding of grouse, but it also proves that it also contains some dishonorable things. The legal season for hunting grouse begins on September 15th, but it is no longer unusual for Kedi to go hunting two weeks early, breaking the law.
He continued to cleverly evade punishment year after year, and even managed to get himself mentioned as an interesting character in a newspaper reporter's interview.
He rarely shoots when grouse are flying. He thinks that it may be better to shoot at close range, but it is also difficult to do this in places with dense foliage. It was precisely because of this that the nest of grouse in the third canyon ran forward safely for so long. But at this moment, some other hunters who were watching nearby discovered them, so he had to chase a group of grouse that were frightened into a mess. After the mother grouse flew away with her four unkilled cubs, the flapping of her wings was no longer heard. So he put the two dead ones in his pocket and returned to the small house.
In this way, the little guys understood: dogs and foxes are different, and they must be treated in different ways. At the same time, the ancient lesson "obedience is longevity" has been more deeply engraved in their hearts.
The rest of September was spent quietly avoiding hunters and some old enemies. They still perch on the slender branches of hardwood trees, hiding among the densest leaves. This not only protects them from attacks by enemies in the air, but also allows them to safely avoid enemies on the ground because of the high resting place. This way, they have nothing to worry about except the tree civets. This kind of tree civet walks slowly and heavily on soft branches, so it will always be discovered by them in time. However, it's time for the leaves to fall - there are different enemies and different foods every month. This month is nut-eating time, but it’s also owl season. At this time, the blue owls were flying from the north, and their number was two or three times more than that of the owls. The weather got colder night after night, and the danger from the coots decreased, so the mother grouse moved away and roosted in the thickest cluster of branches and leaves of a gardenia tree [Note 2].
There was only one little grouse who refused to heed his mother's warning: "Kelite, Kelite." It rested on the bare elm branch swinging back and forth and refused to move. So before dawn, it was carried away by a large yellow-eyed owl.
Now only the mother grouse and three little guys are left, but they are already as big as their mother. To be honest, the eldest one, which was hidden on the thin wood chips, was even bigger than the mother. Their neck hair has begun to grow. Although they only have a little tip, you can still see what they will look like when they grow out, so they feel very proud of this little tip.
The neck hair of a grouse is equivalent to the tail of a peacock - this is its most proud and beautiful part. The hen grouse's beards are black with a light green tinge. The male grouse's neck hair is much denser and darker, and the dark green light on it is more vivid. If by chance a particularly large and strong grouse is born, its neck hair will not only be particularly thick, but due to a special strengthening effect, it will show a deep red copper color with purple rays on it. , green and golden iridescence. Such a bird must have astonished all who knew it, and the little creature, always so obedient, lying on the thin wood, grew before the Acorn Moon was over. The bright, golden and copper-colored neck hair - because it is the famous red-necked grouse in the Tang River Valley.
April
At the end of the Acorn Month, about mid-October, one day, a family of grouse were basking in the sun and eating near a large pine stump on the sunny side of the meadow. While eating the rich food, they heard a gunshot in the distance. Out of an inner impulse, the redneck jumped onto the pine stump, walked up and down twice with its tail raised, and then, under the influence of the bright and refreshing sky, flapped its wings majestically. Then, like a jumping pony, showing off its pride, it looked more brave and flapped its wings louder. Later, it started pecking without knowing it, and because it had discovered this new knife, it was so happy that it kept pecking more and more.
Until later, the loud pecking sound of this big male grouse could be heard everywhere in the nearby woods. When its brothers and sisters heard this sound, they all looked at it in surprise and joy, as did its mother, but from this time on, it began to worry a little about it.
November has begun, and the enemies this month are really powerful. Due to a strange law of nature, all grouse are inevitably infected with a crazy disease as they spend the first November. This situation is not completely absent among humans. At this time, they will have a desperate desire to fly away. As for where to fly, it doesn't matter. During this period, even the cleverest grouse will do all kinds of stupid things. They flew everywhere, flying as fast as they could in the night, getting cut in half by wires, running into lighthouses, or crashing into the headlights of locomotives. During the day, they stay in all kinds of weird places, in buildings, on wet grassy areas, on power lines in a big city, and sometimes even on boats parked on the shore. . This crazy disorder seems to be an ancestral habit of migration, because it has at least one good effect, that is, it breaks up the grouse family and avoids the constant close proximity of the same species. marriage. Otherwise, they will really become extinct [Note 3]. The disease is always severe in young grouse the first year it develops. In the second winter, they may still get sick, because the disease is very contagious, but by the third year, it will never happen again.
As soon as the red-necked mother saw the winter grapes ripening and turning purple, and the crimson and golden maple leaves beginning to fall, she knew that the Madness Month was coming. At this time, it had no other option but to take good care of their bodies and let them stay in the quietest place in the woods.
Later, a group of geese flew southward in the sky, which was the first sign of the coming crazy month. The little guys had never seen such a long-necked bird and were very scared. But as soon as I saw that their mother didn't look afraid at all, she plucked up the courage and looked at the geese with interest. I don’t know if those wild squawking sounds moved them, or was it just an inner desire that was vented? At this time, every little guy had a desire to follow the geese and fly far away. Seeing that the flying geese were about to disappear in the south, they flew to higher branches to see them farther away. At the same time, things have also changed since then. The November moon is getting fuller and rounder every day, and by the time it reaches full moon, the seasonal craziness has arrived.
The grouse in the worst condition was the most severely ill. The grouse's little family was scattered. The redneck made several erratic long flights. It couldn't help but fly south, but when it encountered the boundless Lake Ontario, it flew back again. When the moon of the Crazy Moon turned into a crescent moon, it returned to the muddy valley. However, this time it was alone.