UPLAND SHOOTING. 241 



The Ruifed Grouse, after the broods have separated and left 

 the hens, are the wildest and most wary birds 1 have ever pur- 

 sued, when tlie woody nature of the haunts which they affect 

 is taken into consideration. They have also the most rambling 

 habit of any American game-bird, except the Turkey ; it not 

 being an uncommon thing lor the single birds, or the small 

 companies into which they sometimes form themselves, to 

 wander on the foot, without taking wing at all, ten or twelve 

 miles, at a stretch, over rough hills and through deep wood- 

 lands. Add to this, that their favorite resorts are the steep 

 ledgy s'des of rocky hills, covered with thick wood, and that 

 generally of evergreens, as pine, hemlock, or red cedar, with 

 an undergrowth of the great mountain rhododendron, com- 

 monly known as laurel. It is the characteristic of this sort 

 of woodland, that, while the foliage is very thick and intricate 

 above, on a level with the breast and eyes of the sportsman, it 

 is for the most part perfectly open and clear below ; so that 

 while the hunter has the greatest difficulty in seeing his birds, 

 the birds have none whatever in seeing him or his dogs. They 

 consequently start on the full run — and he who has tned to 

 secure one when wing-tipped or slightly wounded, without the 

 aid of dog, knows what pace that is — the moment the sports- 

 man enters the wood ; and after keeping the dogs trailing and 

 reading on their scent for a mile or two, either flap up unper- 

 ceived into a tree, or take wing at a hundred yards' distance ; 

 and in either case get away unshot at. On this account, they 

 are the most trying bird to the temper of a dog that possibly 

 can be imagined, as it is comparatively speaking of very rare 

 occurrence that they will lie to be pointed, and flushed over 

 the point. 



The exception to this rule is where they are found, which is 

 rarely the case, in low, swampy thickets of heavy covert, in 

 level country. In such places, if you have the luck to find 

 them, you are almost certain of great sport ; for, where the 

 ground is thick and tangled at the bottom, they will squat, 

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