The Ruffed Grouse 403 



nothing is in sight, and about the time you are 

 through wondering where they went you see dark 

 lines twisting here and there through the cactus 

 and brush of the next slope, while away on the 

 sides some blue lines rise buzzing out of shot. A 

 grand surprise for one who went so hopefully to 

 the fray. Yet if you will keep on until you learn 

 to manage them, you can get enough to satisfy 

 any one and have the quickest and finest work 

 with the gun you ever imagined, while Tender- 

 heart will want a gun even more than you do. 



THE RUFFED GROUSE 



The red ruffed grouse, as he is called, is the 

 same in general size and shape as the brown 

 ruffed grouse of the eastern woods, but is dis- 

 tinctly darker with a reddish cast in the brown. 

 Its habits of breeding and living are about the 

 same, yet with an abundance of food, milder 

 winters than the eastern bird has to endure, and 

 apparently far fewer enemies, it is not as plenty 

 on the very best grounds as the eastern grouse 

 is in many places. And this is the case where 

 it is not shot, trapped, or hunted in any way, and 

 where hawks, owls, coyotes, foxes, wildcats, and 

 other marauders are very rare. 



The ruffed grouse is not found in southern or 

 central California, though all the conditions of 

 his happiest existence seem to abound there in 



