102 AMEEICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING. 



for tlicy pay little or no uttcntion to liim, all tlieir inter- 

 est being centered in the yeli)ing creature below, even 

 when some of their companions come crashing and 

 tumbling to the ground. Their tameness, or stupidity, 

 may be inferred from the fact tliat I have known an In- 

 dian to kill fifteen brace in a day with his bow and ar- 

 row, and another to bag twelve brace in an hour with an 

 old Hudson Bay musket. To shoot them on their 

 perches is really no sport, in the higher sense of the 

 word, and were it not for the delicacy of tlieir flesh, 

 few persons would care to pursue them as a pastime. 



This species, like all its family, builds its nest on the 

 ground, the materials of which it is made being dry 

 twigs, leaves, and mosses. The eggs, which number from 

 ten to eighteen, are a deep fawn color, sprmkled with 

 various shades of brown. During the incubating period, 

 the hens carefully avoid the males, and cling so tena- 

 ciously to their nests that they sometimes permit them- 

 selves to be made prisoners rather than desert them. 

 The young are able to follow the mother as soon as they 

 leave the nest, and are large enough to be shot about the 

 middle of August or the first of September. They lie so 

 well then that they will permit a dog to api^roach them 

 to within a distance of six or seven feet, and when he 

 points they generally crouch on the ground; yet, they 

 sometimes attempt to escape by running and skulking. 



When flushed, they dart away in a straight line, and, 

 though they fly rapidly, yet it is rather an easy matter to 

 bag them, even in the dense forests. This species, it 

 seems to me, would thrive in any country where coppices 

 or forests are sufficiently numerous or extensive to afford 

 it the shelter and privacy it requires; and it could evi- 

 dently be made as domestic, if not more so, than the 

 pheasant, as it has been known to breed and thrive 

 in confinement. Everything connected with it would 

 lead a person to infer that none of its family is better 



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