110 



RUFFED GROUSE OR PARTRIDGE 

 SHOOTING. (Tetrao umbellus.) 



PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING is a specialty by itself, 

 though in some respects analogous to quail- 

 shooting ; and the sportsman who thinks it an easy 

 matter to fill his bag with these noble birds will be 

 apt to find himself mistaken. The New-England par- 

 tridge or ruffed grouse is, under all circumstances, the 

 bird of all game-birds, and is sample work for a good 

 shot. The sportsman, old or young, who can knock 

 down his partridge surely, when a fair chance offers, 

 and can bring him to bag, maybe set down as a sports- 

 man who can shoot anything that flies. 



The sudden and unexpected manner in which this 

 bird flushes, his tremendous whir and buzzing of the 

 wing, making a noise not unlike that of a bass-drum, 

 and as loud as that made by a whole bevy of quail, 

 while the oldest hunter often does not know where 

 to look for him, makes him the standard of game-birds. 

 It .requires more nerve to kill him than any other 

 game bird shot on the wing. 



