SPORTS OF THE WINTER WOODS 307 



and reminds him of the brown mates of last 

 spring, and he needs must hop up on the old 

 log and drum for them, though there is little 

 chance that they will heed his amorous call. The 

 ruffed grouse has much brain even for a bird, as 

 his ability to live in our Massachusetts woods in 

 spite of the omnipresent huntsmen shows, but like 

 the fox, he, too, sometimes gets in a brown study 

 and may allow you to meet him at a corner. 



When this happens to me I am always sur- 

 prised to see what a fine dignity the bird has in 

 the woods, unconscious of observation. His car- 

 riage is that of a lord of the thicket, and he seems 

 far larger and taller than his bulk and length 

 when put to the yardstick would show. I always 

 think his tracks in the snow show something of 

 the same characteristics, as if he unwittingly 

 wrote his character into his signature, as most 

 of us do. 



All in all it is a fine sport, this hunting of the 

 wild creatures of the wood without harming 

 them. To bag them in one's memory or one's 

 notebook is to accomplish that feat long desired 

 of mankind, to keep one's cake and eat it too, 

 while he who shoots kills his joy in the acquiring 

 of it. 



