CHAPTER YIII. 



THE RUFFED GROUSE, OR PHEASANT. TETRAO UMBELLUS. 



" Two whirring pheasants swept across our path, 

 And swift as lightning iiew the fiery death." 



THEIR LOCALITY. 



N almost every section of our country, 

 from the northernmost latitudes even as 

 far south as Georgia, ruifed grouse are 

 to be met with. At times they are very 

 abundant in the pines of Jersey, as well 

 as the mountainous ranges of the Mis- 

 sissippi and Columbia Rivers. 



Numbers of grouse were formerly 

 found in the higher elevations of the 

 barrens of Kentucky and Tennessee ; and some remain there 

 even at the present time, although far less abundant than they 



were a few years since. This particular section of country afforded 



143 



