THE RUFFED GROUSE 49 



prize beauty is "somewhere on a point, (that is, 

 if he hasn't run away clear out of the county.") 

 The parenthesis, of course, under his breath 

 along with some other comments which do not 

 sound as well. Now Mr. Grouse does not be- 

 lieve in such tactics : as a result he will be plan- 

 ning his annual increase to the game supply 

 long after the moths have finished that dining 

 room ornament which was ''The last woodcock 

 killed in this section. Sir! And it's too bad 

 they were all killed off, isn't it?" 



The Ruffed Grouse is a great rover. When 

 the young become strong and able to fly well 

 the flocks roam through the woods from one 

 feeding ground to another — here to-day, to- 

 morrow gone. In the fall they haunt the hard 

 wood growths along the lake shores, and the 

 rocky, oak-grown margins of the sea, moving 

 from place to place as they tire of the spot or 

 food begins to fail, crossing to near-by islands, 

 for however much they may dislike to fly 

 across bodies of water in the ''Big Woods," 

 they do not hesitate to make long flights over 

 the small arms of the sea, and in more culti- 

 vated districts, flying on occasion a mile at a 

 stretch. As the season advances they come 



