THE RUFFED GROUSE. 165 



lation is very limited, and foxes are scarce in the woods, 

 while they have an immense area of forest in which to 

 dwell securely; an area which will not be intruded upon 

 by man, to any extent, for many, many years to come. 



No part of the world can compete with the regions ad- 

 joining the Pacific Ocean, north of Central California, in 

 the abundance of the ruffed grouse, as everything is fa- 

 vorable to their existence, and they are not slaughtered 

 by market hunters as they are in other parts of the Con- 

 tinent. Many are, however, killed and snared by the 

 Indians, but not enough to make any appreciable dimi- 

 nution in their numbers. They are generally souglit for 

 in summer in places where berries are to be found; and 

 in autumn where such mast as acorns and nuts are com- 

 mon; but in winter they must be looked for in trees. 

 When some farmers find a place which they frequent 

 either in search of food or gravel to digest it, or to enjoy 

 a dust batli, they snare them by means of nets or traps. 

 A very common form of trap in some portions of the 

 country is a wooden fence two or more feet in height, 

 and five or six hundred feet in length. This is erected 

 near a hillside where fruit or mast is abundant, as the 

 birds will travel long distances to feast on these dainties. 

 The interstices of the fence having been filled with 

 brushwood, grass, and leaves, holes having a diameter of 

 three or four inches are made at close intervals, and 

 nooses made of fine brass wire are suspended in these, 

 so that nothing can pass through without being caught. 



When the birds encounter this obstruction they run 

 along its course until they meet the hole, and in attempt- 

 ing to pass through it they are caught so tightly that 

 one seldom escapes. To make the certainty of the cap- 

 ture greater, the trappers construct narrow runways on 

 each side of the fence, as the birds have a peculiar habit 

 of travelling on a path in hopes of being able to get some 

 opening that will allow them to crawl through an ob- 



