CANADIAN RUFFED GROUSE. 
; eee bird, a subspecific form of the Ruffed Grouse, 
ranges in the northern half of Maine, through- 
out Canada as far west as the New Caledonia district 
in British Columbia, and is also found in northern 
Idaho, Oregon, and Washington on the eastern slopes 
of the Cascade Range, but does not enter the coast 
districts. It is very numerous in the thick forests 
that still cover a large portion of the Dominion of 
Canada, and is usually quite tame and confiding in dis- 
position. When a covey or single bird is met with, fly- 
ing is rarely resorted to, at least at first; the Grouse 
either walking perhaps a little more rapidly in front or 
to one side, or else they mount upon the lower branches 
of a tree close at hand and, motionless, gaze at the in- 
truder. If a number have perched on the branches of 
different trees, frequently the majority can be shot before 
the survivors take alarm and fly deeper into the forest. 
The usual way of hunting them in these woods is to go 
with a little dog, which, striking the scent of a Grouse, 
follows it up until the bird is flushed, and flies usually 
immediately to a tree, at the foot of which the dog 
barks frantically, jumping against the trunk, and in 
many ways exhibiting the excitement under which he 
labors at seeing the most desired one so near and yet 
so far. The attention of the Grouse is entirely taken up 
with the antics and noise of the dog, and pays no heed 
to the approach of her more formidable and deadly 
enemy, the sportsman, who at short distance, with either 
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