HAUNT OF THE RUFFED GEOUSE. 205 



table, the flesh being extremely delicate, with a strong 

 flavour of our red grouse. I have eaten it cooked in 

 every conceivable manner, and whether it be simply 

 roasted over a camp fire or form a portion of an 

 omnium gatherum stew, it will be found alike accept- 

 able. Although scarcity of food may compel this 

 grouse to change its beat, still it is not migratory, as 

 stated by some naturalists. This supposition has 

 arisen from their being found in great numbers during 

 summer and autumn on the scrub barren land, which 

 they leave, as soon as the more severe weather com- 

 mences, for the shelter of the dense timber. A family 

 of these birds I was acquainted with for a year. On 

 their range there was an abundance of food and water, 

 and during that period I could always find them, their 

 home being a little hilly island in the prairie covered 

 with timber and brush, and detached from any irre- 

 gular land by several miles of grass. 



Some authorities have placed woodcock shooting 

 first in the- list, and called it the fox-hunting of those 

 pleasures in which the dog and gun form the chief acces- 

 sories. As far as present British field sports are con- 

 cerned, I believe they are correct, but should the ruffed 

 grouse be introduced, and Englishmen experience the 

 suddenness of their rise, the velocity and irregularity 

 of their flight, the uncertainty of their movements, and 

 the beauty and size of this game when bagged, they 

 would assuredly insert a saving clause. I doubt not 

 many, I believe all, of the warm admirers of shooting 

 will agree with me that there is a superior pleasure 

 in making a mixed bag now a mallard, next a wood- 

 cock, perchance thirdly a partridge, and so forth 

 loading your discharged barrel, scarcely knowing at 



