THE GROUSE OF MAPLE RUN. 67 



both grove and thicket sunny knolb, partially covered with 

 birches, trend obliquely down stream, me eting on the banks 

 of the brook some five hundred yards below. From here to 

 the river, about a mile away, there is a beautiful cover, 

 nearly a mile in width, of alders and birches, with an occa- 

 sional maple and walnut tree. This cover ends on the bank 

 of the river, in a narrow grove of immense hemlocks. Trust- 

 ing that you will retain enough of my rather tedious descrip- 

 tion to follow us through our ardous and long-winded chase, 

 we will shoulder our guns and start for Maple Ran. But 

 first allow ine to introduce you to my companion old Tom 

 Rood, as thorough a sportsman as it has ever fallen to my 

 lot to encounter a peifect gentleman, a first-rate shot and 

 well skilled in all that pertains to woodcraft. Tom is pos- 

 sessed of an abundance of this world's goods, and spends 

 most of his time in the forest, as his nut-brown phiz and 

 wiry frame attest. When he is not shooting or fishing he is 

 abroad communing with nature. There is a vein of poetry 

 and also a flight tinge of superstition in his make-up that, 

 with his overflowing cheerfulness, make him one of the 

 most entertaining companions that I Lave eves met. Oar 

 present trip originated with him, as he had the day before, 

 while resting on the bank of the river, a 1 ; the mouth of the 

 brook, seen, to use his words, a "spectre partridge" (ruffed 

 grouse). While lying at full length on the grass, this bird 

 had flown across the river and alighted within a few feet of 

 him. As he looked up, at the slight noise she made, she 

 walked up within two yards of his head. Examining her 

 closely, he discovered that on the side toward him her eye 

 was gone. Just as he had noticed this, she turned her head, 

 and Tom solemnly averred that her good eye was as large 

 as that of an ox ; and far more brilliant than the purest 

 diamond, her feathers were of a pale cream color, her ruff 

 was light cherry, as was the band across her tail. Taking 

 this in at a glance, and wishing to secure so unique a speci- 

 men, he reached for his gun, when this spectre bird slowly 

 sank into the ground, and Tom, awe-struck, left the uncanny 

 spot and started for home. When nearly a hundred yards 



