372 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



ets, preferring the roughest parts of a hilly or moun- 

 tainous country, and of these it many times selects the 

 densest recesses, or the timber of seamy and rocky 

 hillsides, or where ledges, fallen tree-trunks and tree- 

 tops in the woods, secluded from man, guard against 

 intrusion, and even the timbered swamps are not ob- 

 noxious to it. 



For man it has the most uncompromising aversion. 

 It selects its home in the places least frequented by 

 him, though once the home is determined on it holds 

 to it with dauntless persistency, let the gunner disturb 

 it as often as he may. 



In choosing its habitat it prefers that it be near a 

 supply of good water and an abundance of good food, 

 for it is a good feeder. Whortleberries, blackberries, 

 beechnuts, acorns, chestnuts, partridge berries and buds 

 are readily accepted as food in their proper season. 



The bud of the laurel is said to render the flesh 

 poisonous for food purposes, though the belief seems 

 to rest more on tradition than on any direct evidence. 



Unlike the quail, which prefers to make its home near 

 the homes of man, and the prairie chicken, which sticks 

 closely to the grain field, the ruffed grouse is ever in- 

 tent on choosing its home and haunts distinctly apart 

 from those of man. In the East it is called "par- 

 tridge"; in sections of Pennsylvania and the South, 

 "pheasant." 



In the breeding season, when it has been free from 

 pursuit and harassing alarms, it sometimes strays a 

 short distance from cover into the adjacent fields, 



