Some Glimpses of Grousing 141 



hair," they certainly would suggest a lithesome 

 wee maid of about the proportions of Goliath of 

 Gath. Among them, grouse after grouse can 

 buzz away unseen, while, in addition, the tremen- 

 dous fronds combine to form a most baffling 

 light. 



Western Ontario need not be dwelt upon. 

 The country is very level, the best grounds being 

 moderately open woods, ordinary thickets, brier 

 patches, and the brushy beds of dry creeks. In 

 the greater part of this cover a quick, good shot 

 should gather half his birds early in the season, 

 and do better than that after the leaves are down. 

 As a whole it is a reasonably fair country. 



In Pennsylvania, however, things are somewhat 

 different ; in fact the mountainous portions of that 

 state, much of it good grouse country too, will 

 tax a man's strength, wind, and skill to the limit. 

 Very frequently the birds will be found high up 

 steep hillsides, and when flushed in such places 

 they are apt to go plunging down to the bottom 

 of the valleys at an astounding rate. Now, a 

 grouse going downhill moves as if possessed of 

 a devil, and it does things not at all calculated to 

 shorten its life. To a man who has slowly climbed 

 the Blue Ridge, who has reached the top half 

 winded, and acquired a sneaking suspicion that 

 the sporting fixture of the day is not strictly on 



