384 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
ago I received an invitation from C. Beatty, of Platts- 
burg, Lake Champlain, to go and have a few days of 
mixed shooting with him. It was late in September, 
but most of the leaves were still on the trees. The first 
day we had a grand duck shoot on Missisquoi Bay, 
and after that an outing for woodcock. The last day 
had been reserved for partridge and gray squirrels. We 
had breakfast at daylight and were off. We had not 
far to go to reach our ground—patches of hardwood 
trees with a good deal of underbrush. We soon heard 
some whirring off at our approach, but could not even 
get a glimpse of them. After a time I got a crossing 
shot at one, over fifty yards away, which I bagged, 
and that was the only bird we got. But we surely 
heard a dozen or more rising. I was simply astonished 
that such a bird could be so shy. When I came back 
here and told the natives about my experience, they 
thought I was pulling the long bow. I believe it will 
be many years before our birds get so highly educated.” 
DUSKY GROUSE SHOOTING 
To my mind, the most splendid of the many Ameri- 
can grouse is the dusky, or blue, grouse found in the 
Rocky Mountains, north to Alaska, and west, at vari- 
ous points, to the Pacific coast. To be sure, it is not 
as large as the sage grouse, yet it is a big bird, some- 
times weighing up to four pounds, and nearly two 
feet long. Its tender and delicate flesh is always good 
eating, and its habits of life, in underbrush and timber 
