GROUSE-SHOOTING AT CULVILLE VALLEY. 307 
densely studded with pine-trees, and on the other 
quite clear of timber, but thickly clothed up to 
their rounded summits with the bunch-grass. 
This is a peculiar kind of grass, that grows in tufts, 
and its fattening qualities are truly wonderful. 
The little stream at the Horse-Guards has on 
either side of it a belt of thin brush, and in this, 
and in the long grass close to the stream, we 
found the sharp-tailed grouse. There were hun- 
dreds of them—up they went, and, right and left, 
down they came again! It might have been the 
novelty of the scene, causmg an undue anxiety 
and excitement, or perhaps it was the liver, 
or powder, or something else—who knows what? 
—but this I do know, that neither of us shot our 
best, but we made a glorious bag nevertheless. 
They rise with a loud rattling noise, and utter a 
peculiar cry, like ‘ chuck, chuck, chuck,’ rapidly 
and shrilly repeated. On first rising the wings are 
moved with great rapidity, but after getting 
some distance off they sail along, the wings being 
almost quiescent. 
They pair very early in the spring, long before 
the snow has gone off the ground, and their love- 
meetings are celebrated in a somewhat curious 
fashion. By the half-breeds and fur-traders these 
festivities are called chicken or pheasant dances. 
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