The Ruffed Grouse and Grouse Shooting 285 



addition, we have the Canada grouse, or spruce 

 partridge, and the beautiful willow ptarmigan and 

 its near relatives. Of course the discriminating eye 

 of science divides and subdivides these groups into 

 yet more races and varieties, but these finer distinc- 

 tions need not be dwelt upon, as the present point 

 of view is from the sporting rather than the scientific 

 side. 



That so many men prefer the " chicken " and 

 sharp-tail shooting of the prairies to any other form 

 of sport with the grouse does not of necessity prove 

 the superiority of the work in the open. I have no 

 fault to find with the prairie birds, too many 

 golden memories of flawless days in state and 

 province yet linger for that, but I prefer to shoot 

 ruffed grouse. The prairie shooting is, as a rule, a 

 bit too easy all round, and there is just a trifle too 

 much of sameness about it. You drive in solid com- 

 fort for miles after fast, wide-ranging dogs ; you get 

 down to shoot, climb up again to ride, and so it goes 

 for as long as you please. Of course, it is fun no 

 end, and certainly no other shooting affords better 

 opportunity for fine work by the dogs, and this, to 

 me, is its most attractive feature. Its real weak- 

 nesses are first, that it is too lazy work to long 

 satisfy an energetic, red-blooded man ; second, it 

 lacks the picturesque, for wild, breezy, and free as 

 the great plains are, there is a monotony in appar- 

 ently limitless leagues of grass, only broken by 

 scattered bluffs, in themselves only pleasing because 

 of the slight variety they impart to the scene. 

 Again, if I may put it so, you can see too much 

 i.e. you know too far in advance precisely what 



