€40 



FRANK forester's FIELD SPORTS. 



RUFFED GROUSE SHOOTING, 



VULGO, PARTRIDGE SHOOT! NG. 



Grouse, or as it is there ter 



T was my misfortune once — 

 once only, gentle reader — in my 

 life, to be seduced into underta- 

 king an excursion very late in 

 the season, a few days only be- 

 fore Christmas, into the interior 

 of Connecticut, for the especial 

 purpose of shooting the Ruffed 

 , Partridore. 



I went on the representation of a friend, who while Cock- 

 shooting on that ground, early in the autumn, befoi'e the leaves 

 were down, had moved an immense number of these birds, 

 which were then in broods with the old hen. He assured me, 

 as he fully expected would prove the case, that we should cer- 

 tainly get twenty or thirty fair shots each, daily ; and in 

 consequence I looked for great sport. 



The result was, that, although we had two brace of as good 

 Setters as any in the country, and fagged steadily and resolute- 

 ly during four successive days, we bagged seven birds between 

 us ; two only over points ; and certainly did not fire altogether, 

 at snap shots and long range, above ten or eleven shots. On 

 other occasions, once or twice, I have been persuaded, contraiy 

 to my opinion, to go out of my way to beat for Ruffed Grouse, 

 or to devote a day to their especial pursuit, but I never in any 

 one case have been successful. 



