296 AMEIilCAN GAME. 



themselves, so as to frustrate all his efforts to obtain a 

 shot ; this I have seen done so often as to satisfy me 

 that it is the result, not of chance, but of a deliberate 

 instinct. 



The Huffed Grouse rises, at first, when surprised, with 

 a heavy whirring and laborious flutter, and if taken at 

 that moment within range, is easily shot ; he rises for 

 the most part a little higher than the head of a tall man, 

 and goes away swift and strong nearly in a horizontal 

 line. If struck behind, he will carry away a heavy load 

 of shot, and he has a trick of flying until his breath 

 leaves him in the air, and then falls dead before he 

 strikes the ground. Occasionally he towers up with the 

 wind, and then setting his wings, skates down before it 

 at a prodigious rate, without moving a feather ; and if 

 you get a shot at him, gentle reader, under such circum- 

 stances, crossing you at long range, be sure that you 

 shoot two, or, by 'r lady, three feet ahead of him, or you 

 may cut off his extreme tail-feathers, but of a surety kill 

 him you shall not. 



The Buffed Grouse usually flies in a perfectly right 

 line, so that if you flush one without getting a shot, and 

 can preserve his line exactly, you may find him, if he 

 have not treed, which it is ten to one he has ; wherefore 

 I advise you not to follow him. The exception to this 

 right line of flight, is when the ground is broken into 

 ridges with parallel ravines, in which case the bird, on 

 crossing a ridge at right angles, will rarely cross the 



