UPLAND SHOOTING. 2-o5 



The Grouse invariably makes a clucking noise when it takes 

 wing before a dog, and if it rises within distance, is a very easy 

 shot. No. 7 early in the season, and later No. 5, are the best 

 sizes of shot. Alter that, I should prefer m'/ Ely's cartridges, 

 of No. 5 shot, which I will be bound to say will fetch them 

 frf)m a good twelve or fourteen guago gun of proper weight, 

 held by a (juick hand, and levelled by a true eye, at any period 

 of the season. 



Mr. Audubon observes, contrary to the remarks cited above 

 from W.lson and Dr. Mitchill, that the Grouse drinks when in 

 a state of nature, like the common fowl, and farther, that it is 

 exceedhigly susceptible of dom.estication, even breeding freely 

 in captivity. 



The remarks with regard to beating with dogs for the Quail 

 and Ruffed Grouse, and for shooting both these birds on the 

 wing, except so far as they are here modified, are all applica- 

 ble to the Prairie or Heath-Hen. 



The flesh of this bird is not white, like that of the Ruffed 

 Grouse, but red, like that of the Scottish Moor Fowl, which in 

 many respects it resembles. It has more of the bitter taste 

 than the Ruffed Grouse, and is, in my opinion, a decidedly 

 superior bird. It will bear to be hung for some days, or even 

 weeks in cold weather, and is to be cooked and eaten accord- 

 ing to the direction given under the last head. 



In conclusion, it is well to state here, that there is certainly 

 no distinction whatsoever between the Heath-Hen of Long 

 Island and Martha's Vineyard, the Grouse of the pines and 

 scrub oaks of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and the Prairie- 

 Hen of the West. 



They are all one and the same bird — the Pinn.\ted Grouse, 

 Tet.rao Cupido, of the ornithologist, and emphaticallv the 

 Grouse of the sportsman. 



Of the Canada, or Spotted Grouse, it is in vain to speak, for 

 he is not as yet to be shot, and I apprehend never will be, in 

 sporting style. The ground in which to find him is the deep 

 larch and cedar woods, especially the former, of Maine, Nova 



