Birds. 509 



shooting not so good as is generally imagined ; though a 

 good shot may bag his three brace of grouse a day. The 

 only bird here in winter, that can be called game, is what the 

 natives call a partridge ; but, in England, we should pro- 

 nounce it a ptarmigan : it is the wood partridge ( Zetrao 

 umbellus) of Wilson's American Ornithology. In very severe 

 weather, the birds of this species perch on the tall hemlock 

 spruce trees (^^bies canadensis) ; and, from their white plu- 

 mage, and their remaining perfectly stationary, are very difficult 

 to see ; but, in the evening and early in the morning, they 

 fly to the stunted birches for the buds, which, while the snow 

 covers the ground, constitute their principal food. In mode- 

 rate weather, and particularly when the ground is free from 

 snow, they fly into the low brushwood, in flocks of five 

 or six ; and then, with a good dog to spring them, and 

 back immediately, they will fly to the first tree; when it 

 requires only a sharp eye and a steady aim to transfer them 

 to your game-bag. They are not only splendid birds 

 in appearance, but, when dressed secundum artem (with a 

 cook's skill), will tickle the palate of the most determined 

 gourmand. The cock bird has a singular call for its mate. 

 Alighting on the stump of a tree, he strikes it violently and 

 quickly with his wings, which produces a loud hollow sound ; 

 and, from the noise having some resemblance to that of a 

 mufiied drum when beaten, it is called " drumming." This 

 may be heard, on a still evening, at the distance of nearly 

 half a mile. I have said before that these birds are very 

 difficult to see in trees. Shooting one day, I saw, as well as 

 a boy who accompanied me, one of them fly into a fir tree : 

 we looked for a long time without being able to find it ; and 

 were on the point of giving up the search, when we fancied 

 we saw it sitting on the flat part of a branch near the trunk. 

 I gave the boy my double-barreled gun, who fired ; but the 

 bird never stirred. Feeling satisfied, however, that it was 

 there, I fired the second barrel ; when it fell to the ground 

 dead. Like the ptarmigan of Europe, they are but little 

 alarmed at the noise of a gun ; and are so stupid, that, if 

 three or four perch in a tree, they may be all shot by simply 

 taking care to fire at the lowest bird first. The cock of this 

 species of grouse weighs 1 9 oz., and the hen nearly as much. 

 A speckled woodpecker, with a red head, and of about the 

 size of our redwing (Turdus zliacus); the common blue jay; 

 a tomtit, somewhat larger than our Parus major ; a large 

 brown owl (a singularly beautiful bird); and a bird of the 

 pie kind, constitute, as fiir as I have been able to observe, 

 the catalogue of birds that pass the winter in this part of 



