70 FRANK forester's FIELD SPORTS. 



kind of food has been long continued, and the birds allowed t© 

 remain undrawn for several days, until the contents of the crop 

 and stomach have had time to diffuse themselves through the 

 flesh, as is too often the case, it may be unwholesome, and even 

 dano-erous. Great numbers of these birds are brought to our 

 markets at all times during fall and winter, some of which are 

 brouo-ht from a distance of more than a hundred miles, and have 

 been probably dead a week or two, unpicked and undrawn, 

 before they are purchased for the table. 



" Regulations prohibiting them from being brought to market, 

 unless picked and drawn, would very probably be a sufficient 

 security against all danger. At these inclement seasons, how- 

 ever, they are lean and dry, and, indeed, at all times, their flesh 

 is far inferior to that of the Pinnated Grouse. They are usually 

 sold in Philadelphia market at from three-quarters of a dollar 

 to a dollar and a quarter a pair, — sometimes higher." — WiIson''s 

 Am. Ornith. 



The last of this species which it is worth our while to notice 

 as a sporting bird, is the Canada Grouse, and even it, although 

 Mr. Audubon speaks of it as abundant in parts of Maine, and 

 although it unquestionably exists in the north-eastern angle of 

 New York, is so rarely met, and so shy, as to be known to very 

 few of our sportsmen. 



The Willow Grouse, or Willow Ptarmigan, perhaps the 

 most beautiful of all the American species, and perhaps to be 

 met with in the extreme north of Maine, is too uncommon to be 

 classed as game. I fear, indeed, that few of my readers will 

 ever have the good fortune to kill the beautiful little Grouse of 

 which we are now speaking. I doubt whether it would ever lie 

 to dogs. It is a solitary forest bird. 



