The Ruffed Grouse and Grouse Shooting 289 



But there were others the birds of prey and to 

 avoid these the grouse went back to earth. So it 

 played its game of going to the trees to avoid four- 

 footed foes, and dropping to the rocks and brush to 

 baffle winged ones, and this must have answered 

 very well for a long time, for the grouse flourished 

 and waxed fat. The one human foe was then an 

 Indian, clever with bow and arrow and snares ; but 

 still the treeing trick was useful, for good arrows 

 were easily lost if shot upward among trees, the 

 grouse was comparatively small game, while the Ind- 

 ian hated to make arrows as he hated work in 

 general. But the old-fashioned firearm eventually 

 became common, and at once the grouse's erstwhile 

 strong point became a weakness. 



I have no doubt that birds once wounded in trees 

 may have learned to trust to their wings when next 

 man appeared, for to-day the grouse, except in remote 

 corners, seldom trees unless the man be accompanied 

 by a dog. To the birds the dog is merely the old, 

 four-footed peril a fox-like creature unable to 

 climb from which a tree is an absolutely safe sanc- 

 tuary. Hence, we see birds tree above the dog and 

 remain calmly looking down upon the intruder, and 

 even moving upon the limbs as though only slightly 

 interested in the whole business. But let the man 

 follow the dog, and a change takes place. One of 

 two things happens either the grouse leave the 

 tree, or they stretch to their full height and remain 

 motionless. When so posed, only an experienced 

 eye is apt to detect them, for they would easily pass 

 for so many decayed and broken stubs. Even the 

 skilled sportsman, who knows this habit of the 



