74 WING-SHOOTING. 



RUFFED GROUSE; PHEASANT; PARTRIDGE. 



HABITS AND HAUNTS. 



In almost every newly settled wooded section of the 

 northern portion of North America, ruffed grouse aie to 

 be met with. They are found along the sides of hills 

 covered with hemlock, pine, cedar or beech ; in level por- 

 tions of country lined by swampy thickets ; in dry 

 swampy grounds, and the adjoining portions covered with 

 beech or oak trees, the nuts of which they feed upon 

 during the late autumn and throughout the winter. 

 They nest in April, May and June, and bring forth their 

 young in the same months. They produce only one 

 brood a year, and the brood is usually hatched in May ; 

 those hatched in June or later are late broods, and are 

 late because the eggs laid early in the season have been 

 destroyed. The brood usually consists of eight to twelve, 

 and sometimes fourteen or fifteen birds, and mature very 

 early. In very rainy seasons, many of the young birds 

 are killed by the wet. They moult in August, and when 

 the plumage is perfect, which is in October, the covey 

 usually separates ; afterwards they are generally found 

 singly or in pairs, but, in severe winter months, may often 



