SHOOTING THE WOODS GROUSE 379 
The work required of the dog in this shooting is dis- 
tinctly different from that required in any other kind 
of bird shooting, except, perhaps, woodcock shooting, 
which in a way it resembles, though a higher degree 
of dog intelligence and obedience are required, as the 
ruffed grouse is far more cunning and wary than the 
woodcock. 
The “partridge dog” should not work far from the 
gun in cover, and he should be silent and diligent in 
his quest. Many experienced shooters highly com- 
mend the use of a small bell tied to the dog’s collar, its 
low tinkling constantly indicating the dog’s where- 
abouts in the thick cover; and generally, when the bell 
stops, it indicates that the dog is on point, thus in 
a way keeping the shooter posted by ear as to his dog’s 
doings and whereabouts. 
The rattle-headed, highly nervous dog, or the one 
which gallops swiftly and merrily about, is distinctly 
out of place in this kind of shooting. The esthetic 
shooter, whose dog must carry a high head and a tail 
lashing his sides merrily as he gallops and bounds 
about in the ecstasy of his enjoyment, as the dogs many 
times do in the idealists’ tales of great work afield, 
would better take his fiery dog into the open, where 
he can better disport himself unhampered, and where 
his pretty ways may be admired without any unpleas- 
ant interposition of the ruffed grouse. Such manner 
of the dog’s seeking is incompatible with ruffed grouse 
shooting, for the shooting should be the dominant fea- 
ture, not the joyousness of the dog. 
