Grouse.
The Grouse are as a rule ground birds and trust to their ability to hide to escape detection, their color being such as to make them difficult to detect against a background of dead leaves. The Ruffed Grouse can easily be detected by the drumming sound which it makes. This drumming begins gradually and gradually dies away. The sound is made by the male bird beating its wings in the air. The young birds run about like small chickens. They feed on insects, berries and seeds.
Quail.
Who has not heard the quail call across the fields "bobwhite, poor bobwhite"? They like the fields of corn in the fall; in the winter they journey to the deep woods; like the grouse, they rely upon their coloration for protection and will only take flight as a last resort.
The Plovers.
In habit they are like the snipes; but their tails are shorter and thicker. The Golden Plover may be found in marshes and sand-flats; they can run very rapidly; they may be seen as the tide goes out feeding on sand-flats or sand-bars. After running a few yards they stop suddenly and seem to take their bearings. It is well known by its plaintive cry and the stratagems it employs to decoy intruders away from its nest, or rather eggs.
The Killdeer is so called on account of the cry which it utters; it resembles "kill-dee, kill-dee." It is found usually in flocks and nests on the ground in a hollow.
The Cranes
frequent marshes and are fond of frogs, field mice, snakes, etc. They have a loud cry. When in flight the neck is not bent like the Heron's. They nest on the ground.
The Herons and Bitterns.