50 GAME-BIRDS AT HOME. 



often to make fine shooting before any hues of 

 death had touched the timber that studded the 

 hills. These bluffs were about four hundred feet 

 above the slope of the bottom-lands and benches 

 at their feet, and not too steep for hunting. 

 About half-way up their sides, and in the heads 

 of the gulches that cut them in all directions, was 

 the home of this grouse. Often he went to the 

 top where a stubble bordered the timber at the 

 head of a ravine: and many a time, in the cool 

 evening of August or September, when we thought 

 the dog was pointing the pinnated grouse for 

 which we were hunting, a full-grown covey of 

 the ruffed grouse has sprung on uproarious wing 

 and vanished in the shade of the oaks and birches. 

 On hot days it was not uncommon to find the 

 pinnated grouse half-way down the bluffs, seeking 

 the shade of their steep sides, and often the two 

 kinds of grouse were so mixed that either might 

 spring before the dog. Once in a while Bob 

 White lent his charming company, and until the 

 bird rose you could not tell on what the dog 

 was pointing. In the oak openings on the bench- 

 lands of the Wisconsin rivers this same mixture 



