MOUNTAIN GAME. 135 



from my first blow by the intervening twigs ; 

 however, it merely flew a few yards, and then 

 sat with its bill open, — having evidently been 

 a little hurt, — until I came up and knocked it 

 over with a better directed stroke. 



Spruce grouse are plentiful in the moun- 

 tain forests of the northern Rockies, and, 

 owing to the ease with which they are killed, 

 they have furnished me my usual provender 

 when off on trips of this kind, where I carried 

 no pack. They are marvellously tame and 

 stupid. The young birds are the only ones 

 I have ever killed in this manner with a stick ; 

 but even a full plumaged old cock in Sep- 

 tember is easily slain with a stone by any one 

 who is at all a good thrower. A man who has 

 played much base-ball need never use a gun 

 when after spruce grouse. They are the 

 smallest of the grouse kind ; tlie cock is very 

 handsome, with red eyebrows and dark, glossy 

 plumage. Moreover, he is as brave as he is 

 stupid and good-looking, and in the love season 

 becomes fairly crazy : at such time he will occa- 

 sionally make feint of attacking a man, strut- 

 ting, fluttering, and ruffling his feathers. The 

 flesh of the spruce grouse is not so good as 

 that of his ruffed and blue kinsfolk ; and in 

 winter, when he feeds on spruce buds, it is 

 ill tasting. I have never been able to under- 

 stand why closely allied species, under ap- 

 parently tlie same surroundings, should differ 

 so radically in such important traits as wari- 

 ness and capacity to escape from foes. Yet 

 the spruce grouse in this respect shows the 

 most marked contrast to the blue grouse and 

 the ruffed grouse. Of course all three kinds 

 3-5 " 



