UPLAND SHOOTING. 75 



as the most tangled swamps of Labrador. The whole ground 

 is covered by the most beautiful carpeting of verdant moss, over 

 ■which the light-footed Grouse walk with ease, but among which 

 we sunk at every step or two up to the waist, our legs stuck in 

 the mire, and our bodies squeezed beneath the dead trunks and 

 branches of the trees, the minute leaves of which insinuated 

 themselves between my clothes, and nearly blinded me. We , 

 saved our guns from injury, however, and seeing some of the 

 Spruce Partridges before they perceived us, we procured seve- 

 ral specimens. They were in beautiful plumage, but all male 

 birds. It is in such places that these birds usually reside, and it 

 is very seldom that they are seen in the open 'grounds, beyond 

 the borders of their almost impenetrable retreats. On returning 

 to my family, I found that another hunter had brought two fine 

 females, but had foolishly neglected to bring the young ones, 

 which he had caught and given to his children, who, to my great 

 mortification, had already cooked them when my messenger ar- 

 rived at his house. 



" The Spruce Partridge, or Canada Grouse, breeds in the 

 States of Maine and Massachusetts, about the middle of May? 

 nearly a month earlier than at Labrador. The males pay their 

 addresses to the females, by strutting before them on the ground 

 or moss, in the manner of the Turkey-cock, frequently rising se- 

 veral yards in the air, in a spiral manner, when they beat their 

 wings violently against their body, thereby producing a drum- 

 ming noise, clearer than that of the Ruffed Grouse, and which 

 can be heard at a considerable distance. The female places her 

 nest beneath the low horizontal branches of fir-trees, taking 

 care to conceal it well. It consists of a bed of twigs, dry leaves 

 and mosses, on which she deposits from eight to fourteen eggs, 

 of a deep fawn color, irregularly splashed with different tints of 

 brown. They raise only one brood in the season, and the young 

 follow the mother as soon as they are hatched. The males 

 leave the females whenever incubation has commenced, and do 

 not join them again until late in autumn ; indeed, they remove 



