206 PKAIRIE AND FOREST. 



what description of game it will be used. Thus a 

 reason for their introduction to England. 



If the inhabitants of the British Islands can boast 

 of their pheasant and grouse, the Americans can in 

 equal justice laud their ruffed grouse and Virginian 

 ortix. 



CANADIAN OR SPRUCE GROUSE. 



Even to the red iris around the eye, so much does this 

 bird resemble the red grouse of Scotland that it would 

 be pardonable for any one who had not well known 

 the latter to confuse it with the former. Although the 

 Canadian grouse and ruffed grouse are occasionally 

 found upon the same range of country, the habitat of the 

 former commences where that of the latter ceases, and 

 extends up to almost the 60th degree of north latitude. 

 Although occasionally flushed in packs, they are more 

 frequently seen in pairs, and the denser the cover and 

 more swampy the soil, the more abundant will they be 

 found. So little do these birds dread a human being, 

 that they will often remain perched upon a limb till a 

 snare on the end of a rod can be passed over their 

 heads. This trustfulness of man's good intentions 

 towards them seriously militates against the amuse- 

 ment they would otherwise afford the sportsman. By 

 the residents of the localities this bird inhabits, they 

 are not considered good food, for the reason that their 

 back and thighs strongly possess that peculiar game 

 flavour for which epicures value the Scotch bird. 

 No. 6 or 7 shot will be found the best suited for their 

 destruction. 



SAGE GROUSE, or SAGE HEN, is a gross, heavy, 

 awkward, but handsomely plumaged bird ; it is almost 



