646 North American Grouse. 



he seeks to avoid the exposure by hiding. Then the sportsman, 

 following close after his dog, keeping always ready for a shot, may 

 see the dog halt sharp, pointing to a thicket of briers and cut brush, 

 then recalling the runs which he had made before the previous 

 points, will step forward slowly,— slowly, — with his head high in air 

 and eyes intent; a pause, — his foot is up for another step, when the 

 bird rushes out again, scattering the brush with his quick wings, 

 and whirling off the saffron leaves from the white birch. Never 

 mind the aim, — the gun comes up to the line of flight, the sharp 

 report awakens the echoes of the hills, and the pride of the wood- 

 land falls to the ground. Brave old bird, he died in the prime of 

 life ! No base snare shall choke him ; no horned owl or stealthy 

 mink shall pick his bones ; but, roasted before a hickory fire, he 

 will be served hot as the second course to a gentle meal, and 

 have his virtues told by hunters who honor his name and worth, 

 as they tell stories of the chase, or carol snatches of Thoreau's 

 songs in the autumn night. 



" Shot of the wood from thy ambush low, 

 Bolt off the dry leaves flying; 

 With a whirring spring like an Indian bow, 



Thou speedest when the year is dying; 

 And thy neat gray form darts whirling past, 

 So silent all as thou fliest fast, 

 Snapping a leaf from the copses red, — 

 Our native bird on the woodland bred. 



"And thy whirring wings I hear, 



When the colored ice is warming 

 The twigs of the forest sere ; 



When the northern wind, a-storming, 

 Draws cold as death round the Irish hut, 

 That lifts its blue smoke in the railway cut, 

 And the hardy chopper sits dreaming at home, 

 And thou and I are alone in the storm." 



The spruce grouse, or Canada grouse, is smaller than the ruffed 

 grouse, its length being about sixteen inches, and its full weight 

 sixteen ounces. Its range seems to be north of the latitude of the 

 Mohawk River, in the State of New York, and extending through 

 all of Canada and to Baffin's Bay. 



