104 UPLAND SHOOTING. 



low flight of the ruffed grouse makes such shooting 

 extremely dangerous. It will be found as hard to restore 

 your peace of mind when once you have shot out the eye 

 of a beloved companion as to ' ' buy with gold the old 

 associations." The men who fire at all moving objects, 

 patches of hair, tufts of feathers, or at unknown objects 

 in waving grass, are not desirable comrades. Let your 

 motto be: Never fire till you know what you are shoot- 

 ing at. By following this rule, I have missed killing 

 several deer and a bear also a man. 



Naturalists unite in ascribing polygamy to the ruffed 

 grouse; and just here I wish to remark that it is unsafe 

 to disagree with all, or even one of them, for their state- 

 ments unlike their birds contain something more sub- 

 stantial than cotton. 



Still, I .can find a little fault with the word as applied 

 to this grouse, and I can also theorize a little, without 

 disturbing very many feathers. Even "polygyny," 

 which seems to me a more suitable word, implies the 

 violation of a law, and is harsh and unsatisfactory when 

 applied to animate nature, which knows and follows 

 instinct alone. If those birds which pair anew each 

 spring comply with the unwritten law, it is surely 

 unjust to term them polygamous; and equally unkind to 

 apply the word to those females which seek the society 

 of a male a second time only when their first laying has 

 been destroyed. I would place the female ruffed grouse 

 in the latter class. 



As I have taken but very few specimens in the sum- 

 mer, I can not speak by the right kind of experience 

 regarding barren hens, said to do much of the summer 

 drumming. Neither can I understand why they occur, 

 if polygamy be practiced, as the female is nearly always 

 within hearing distance of the drummer's call. 



The belief that the male deserts the hen during incu- 



