160 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
server makes a movement and the bird sees him, it will 
stop for a moment, look carefully, and then, turning, 
will seem to melt out of sight. It is most difficult to 
tell when it disappears. Under such circumstances a 
bird will sometimes fly, but more often will run for two 
or three yards and disappear, and then springing from 
the ground at a greater distance will fly off low, not 
being seen after it takes to wing. 
Rarely one may see a frightened grouse on the 
ground and may get up close to it, but if he does this 
and wishes to observe the bird, let him avoid looking 
directly at it. If it catches the observer’s eye, it is al- 
most sure to fly, and when it flies the very fact that you 
are so close to it may make the shot a difficult one. On 
one occasion many years ago, after shooting two or 
three times at a grouse, the dog pointed it at the foot 
of a great oak tree. The other dog backed, and my 
two brothers and myself, realizing where the bird must 
be, surrounded the foot of the tree. Presently we saw 
it crouched on the ground between two roots, looked 
squarely at it and talked about it. That grouse must 
have had an unhappy time, for it feared to fly. For 
some little time we looked and talked of it, and then, 
fearing that the pointing dog might try to seize the 
bird, which was almost under his nose, one of us 
stepped forward and grasped his collar. As this was 
done, the grouse took wing, twisted around the root 
of the tree, passing within two feet of one of my broth- 
ers, dodged away and up and over a little rise of 
