RUFFED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 108 



found. In the New England States it is met 

 with, and is sparsely distributed in New York 

 and New Jersey. In some of the wild, half- 

 mountainous tracts of New Jersey, where the 

 undergrowth consists largely of laurel, it is. more 

 abundant. It is also frequently met with in 

 West Virginia. In Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 

 nois, Missouri, and Iowa the ruffed grouse is 

 also found ; but so far as my knowledge and 

 experience go, it is most abundant of .all in 

 some parts of Wisconsin and the northwest part 

 of the lower peninsula of Michigan. It is said 

 fhat the buds of the laurel and some of the 

 berries upon which the ruffed grouse feed have 

 a tendency to make the flesh poisonous. I can- 

 noi confirm the theory, though I have eaten many 

 a grouse whose crop was full of the buds in 

 question when drawn. In general appearance it 

 has some resemblance to the pinnated grouse, but 

 is a smaller bird, with a long, square tail, very 

 full feathered, which it carries over the fallen 

 leaves and mossy sward among the timber with 

 a conscious pride and a swelling, strutting gait 

 in places where it is little disturbed. It is, in 

 fact, a beautiful ornament to the romantic soli- 

 tudes and deep, heavy woods which it inhabits. 



