SHOOTING THE WOODS GROUSE 375 



bordering on audacity, permitting the shooter to pass 

 close by, and flushing after he is some yards further 

 onward. This wile is oftenest practiced after it has 

 been flushed, marked down and pursued. Both man 

 and dog are apt to pass it then, though they may fol- 

 low in the exact line of flight. The shooter may hear 

 the irritating roar of the bird's wings behind him, on 

 ground but a moment before passed over, or catch a 

 shadowy glimpse as it dashes away from some tree- 

 top. 



Owing to its short flights and its proneness to take 

 a straight, or nearly straight line, the persistent shooter 

 may be able to mark and flush the bird again and 

 again. It sometimes, in repeated flights, returns to 

 near the place where it was first found, and it always 

 takes the flights so that ground and cover are to its 

 advantage in avoiding danger. 



Once in a while a foolish bird will be found, which 

 will do the very thing it ought not to do, commonly 

 paying for the lapse with its life; so that if there is 

 anything in the theory of heredity, the ruffed grouse 

 should be uniformly of high capabilities, the fool birds 

 being killed promptly, and never breeding. 



By far the greater part of the shooting is at close 

 range, as it needs must be in thicket or woods, where 

 the longest views are short, and obstructed by trees or 

 ledges or the undergrowth or the hilly nature of the 

 ground, where in the early season the view may not 

 be greater than a few yards or feet, if the leaves have 

 not fallen. 



