RUFFED GROUSE AND PARTRIDGE. 199 



the American partridge is only to be found in the 

 neighborhood of farms ; and I have been assured that 

 this bird is more abundant now on the western end 

 of Long Island, which is close to the city of New 

 York, and more carefully cultivated, than it was in 

 days gone by, and the country more wild. The ruffed 

 grouse, on the other hand, but requires irregular 

 ground, plenty of water, and a fair proportion of tim- 

 ber, and they will attach themselves to a neighbor- 

 hood without straggling off for parts unknown, like 

 the pheasant. 



That the ruffed grouse will breed here, there is 

 scarcely room for doubt. I know that the American 

 partridge has already done so, and that in a state of 

 captivity ; but let the experiment be made the cost 

 at most would be but trilling and, if successful, their 

 importation could be gone into on a larger scale. 



In America, over a great portion of the country, their 

 partridge goes by the name of quail. The same de- 

 lusion appears to have crept over here, and a fear that 

 the introduction of this species would be unsuccessful, 

 for the reason that our migratory quail is scarcer now 

 than in days gone by, from the land being more care- 

 fully tilled, is advanced as a caution to those who might 

 entertain an idea of making the experiment. The 



