28 PINNATED GROUS. 



tomed to shoot them for the market, and who have acted as 

 guides to gentlemen who go there for sport. 



"fiulk. An adult Grouse when fat weighs as much as a barn 

 door fowl of moderate size, or about three pounds avoirdupoise. 

 But the eagerness of the sportsman is so great, that a large pro- 

 portion of those they kill, are but a few months old, and have 

 not attained their complete growth. Notwithstanding the pro- 

 tection of the law, it is very common to disregard it. The re- 

 tired nature of the situation favours this. It is well understood 

 that an arrangement can be made which will blind and silence 

 informers, and that the gun is fired with impunity, for weeks 

 before the time prescribed in the act. To prevent this unfair 

 and unlawful practice, an association was formed a few years 

 ago, under the title of the Brush club, with the express and 

 avowed intention of enforcing the game-law. Little benefit, 

 however, has resulted from its laudable exertions; and under a 

 conviction that it was impossible to keep the poachers away, 

 the society declined. At present the statute may be considered 

 as operating very little toward their preservation. Grouse, es- 

 pecially full-grown ones, are becoming less frequent. Their 

 numbers are gradually diminishing; and assailed as they are on 

 all sides, almost without cessation their scarcity may be viewed 

 as foreboding their eventual extermination. 



" Price. Twenty years ago a brace of Grouse could be 

 bought for a dollar. They now cost from three to five dollars. 

 A handsome pair seldom sells in the New York market now a 

 days for less than thirty shillings [three dollars, seventy-five 

 cents], nor for more than forty [five dollars]. These prices in- 

 dicate indeed the depreciation of money, and the luxury of eat- 

 ing. They prove at the same time, that Grouse are become 

 rare; and this fact is admitted by every man who seeks them, 

 whether for pleasure or for profit. 



" Amours. The season for pairing is in March, and the 

 breeding time is continued through April and May. Then the 

 male Grouse distinguishes himself by a peculiar sound. When 

 he utters it, the parts about the throat are sensibly inflated and 



