The Ruffed Grouse 121 



going to the trees to escape its four-footed foes, 

 and dropping to the rocks and brush to baffle 

 winged ones, and this must have answered very- 

 well for a long time, for the grouse flourished 

 and waxed fat. His one human foe was then an 

 Indian, clever with bow and arrow and snares; 

 but still the treeing trick was useful, for good 

 arrows were easily lost if shot upward among 

 trees ; the grouse was comparatively small game, 

 while an Indian hated to make arrows as he hated 

 labor in any form. But the old-fashioned firearm 

 eventually became common, and at once the 

 grouse's erstwhile strong point became its deadly 

 weakness. 



No doubt birds that were once wounded in 

 trees learned to trust to their wings when next 

 man approached, for to-day the grouse, except in 

 remote corners, will seldom tree unless the man 

 be accompanied by a dog. A grouse educated 

 on modern principles — i.e. one that has enjoyed 

 the questionable advantage of feeling lead driven 

 through some part of it — seldom offers a second 

 fair chance ; but all are not so wise. To most 

 of them the dog is merely the old four-footed 

 peril — a foxlike creature unable to climb, against 

 which a tree is an absolute safeguard. Naturally 

 enough the first impulse is to at once take the 

 oft-tried remedy for a well-understood evil. Hence 

 we see birds tree above the dog and remain calmly 



