PINNATED GROUS. 25 



- The birds whir.h are known there emphatically by the name 

 of Grouse, inhabit chiefly the forest-range. This district of the 

 island may ,be estimated as being between forty and fifty miles 

 in length, extending from Bethphage in Queen's county to the 

 neighbourhood of the court-house in Suffolk. Its breadth is not 

 more than six or seven. For although the island is bounded by 

 the Sound separating it from Connecticut on the north, and by 

 the Atlantic ocean on the south, there is a margin of several 

 miles on each side in the actual possession of human beings. 



"The region in which these birds reside, lies mostly within 

 the towns of Oysterbay, Huntington, Islip, Smithtown, and 

 Brook-haven; though it would be incorrect to say, that they 

 were not to be met with sometimes in Riverhead and South- 

 hampton. Their territory has been defined by some sportsmen, 

 as situated between Hempstead-plain on the west, and Shinne- 

 cock-plain on the east. 



" The more popular name for them is Heath-hens. By this 

 they are designated in the act of our legislature for the preser- 

 vation of them and of other game. I well remember the pass- 

 ing of this law. The bill was introduced by Cornelius J. Bog- 

 ert, esq. a member of the assembly from the city of New York. 

 It was in the month of February, 1791. 



"The statute declares among other things, that the person 

 who shall kill any Heath-hen within the counties of Suffolk or 

 Queens, between the first day of April and the fifth day of Oc- 

 tober, shall for every such offence, forfeit and pay the sum of 

 two dollars and a half, to be recovered with costs of suit, by any 

 person wh^ shall prosecute for the same, before any justice of 

 the peace, in either of the said counties; the one half to be paid 

 to the plaintiff, and the other half to the overseers of the poor. 

 And if any Heath-hen so killed, shall be found in the possession 

 of any person, he shall be demed guilty of the offence, and suf- 

 fer the penalty. But it is provided, that no defendant shall be 

 convicted unless the action shall be brought within three months 

 after the violation of the law.* 



* The doctor has probablj forgotten a circumstance of rather a ludicrous kind 

 VOL, III. E 





