THE ONE-EYED GROUSE OF MAPLE RUN. 



SOME years ago we penned the following art'cle, which 

 we reproduce here in order to give our readers some 

 idea of the pleasures and perils which so endear to us the 

 pursuit of "that best of all game birds, the lordly Ruffed 

 Grouse." 



First let me describe the locality wh<re these incidents 

 transpired, that you may the better understand some of the 

 evolutions that I shall endeavor to explain. I feel entirely 

 competent to give a description of the run, as even now, 

 after the lapse of thirteen years, every rock, tree and shrub ; 

 every bubbling spring, each turn and twist of the little brook, 

 even to its every merry dim; le and minature cascade with 

 its gleesome music, is so indelibly engraved upon the tablets 

 cf my memory, that I have only to mount .the wings of 

 thought, and the entire scene in all its loveliness is before 

 me. Here, at the extreme upper end, is a gigantic rock, 

 maple, whose leaves on this golden October day are gorge- 

 ous in their bright array. Just at its foot a silvery sprirg 

 gushes forth, whose sparkling waters are quaffed by many a 

 weary one, as the well-worn path and smooth, white rock at 

 its side attest. This fountain is the commencement of the 

 little brook that I mentioned. For the first quarter mile of 

 its course there is an occasional young maple, while upon 

 each side, for four or five rods, beautiful ferns invite the 

 shy woodcock to their grateful shade. For the next twenty 

 yards, there is an abrupt fall of as many feet, whose steep 

 sides are covered with an almost impenetrable growth of 

 witch-hazel, which is now in bloom notice the pleasing 

 contrast between those sprays of lemon colored blossoms and 

 the dark green of that hemlock that towers in a perfect cone, 

 thirty feet above them mark well thb same hemlock for 

 under its umbrageous branches, a dastardly deed was at- 

 tempted that recoiled upon the would-be perpetrator in a 

 manner that afforded us heartfelt satisfaction. I will resume 



