l6o AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



server makes a movement and the bird sees him, it will 

 stop for a moment, look carefully, and then, turning, 

 will seem to melt out of sight. It is most difficult to 

 tell when it disappears. Under such circumstances a 

 bird will sometimes fly, but more often will run for two 

 or three yards and disappear, and then springing from 

 the ground at a greater distance will fly off low, not 

 being seen after it takes to wing. 



Rarely one may see a frightened grouse on the 

 ground and may get up close to it, but if he does this 

 and wishes to observe the bird, let him avoid looking 

 directly at it. If it catches the observer's eye, it is al- 

 most sure to fly, and when it flies the very fact that you 

 are so close to it may make the shot a difficult one. On 

 one occasion many years ago, after shooting two or 

 three times at a grouse, the dog pointed it at the foot 

 of a great oak tree. The other dog backed, and my 

 two brothers and myself, realizing where the bird must 

 be, surrounded the foot of the tree. Presently we saw 

 it crouched on the ground between two roots, looked 

 squarely at it and talked about it. That grouse must 

 have had an unhappy time, for it feared to fly. For 

 some little time we looked and talked of it, and then, 

 fearing that the pointing dog might try to seize the 

 bird, which was almost under his nose, one of us 

 stepped forward and grasped his collar. As this was 

 done, the grouse took wing, twisted around the root 

 of the tree, passing within two feet of one of my broth- 

 ers, dodged away and up and over a little rise of 



