292 AMERICAN GAME. 



of inaccessible rock-ledges, impenetrable rhododendron 

 brakes, and deep sequestered hemlock-swamps ; this, the 

 most uncomataTDle and self-protecting bird of all the vari- 

 eties of American game; the only variety, perhaps, 

 which never can by any means, fair or unfair, be exter- 

 minated from among us, so long as the rock-ribbed 

 mountains tower toward the skies, and the forests clothe 

 them with foliage never sere. 



% At this period they would afford rare sport, as at all 

 other seasons they afford none ; and are, moreover, in far 

 the best condition for the table, as the old birds are apt 

 to be dry, unless hung up for several weeks before being 

 cooked, which can, of course, only be done in winter, 

 when the coldness of the weather prevents their becom- 

 ing tainted, without absolutely freezing them. 



In my opinion, therefore, this the only bird, of Ameri- 

 can game, which might well exist apart from almost all 

 protection, is now so protected as to be almost rendered 

 impossible to the gun of the fair sportsman ; while for 

 others, the tamest, the most easily killed, and the most 

 rapidly decreasing of all our winged tribes, as the Wood- 

 cock, for example, the mock protection afforded to them 

 is but another word for the license to slaughter them 

 half-fledged and half-grown, while the second brood is 

 yet in the black-down, and unable to exist without the 

 parent's care. 



I would myself desire to see the legitimate season for 

 'Ruffed Grouse-shooting made to commence with the first 



