382 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



the birds coming to those places for water. This was 

 not recounted to me as a matter of sport, nor is it so 

 set forth here, but will give an idea of the numbers 

 of the ruffed grouse in the sections where it is in the 

 greatest abundance. 



But the sportsman who seeks the ruffed grouse for 

 the true sport of it has a more exalted pleasure than 

 comes from shooting any other game bird. First of 

 all, he must be skilful with the gun, and when he 

 shoots, be he ever so skilful, he can only apply such 

 skill as he can muster in a moment, the opportunities 

 of ruffed grouse shooting being but mere fragments 

 of the opportunities accorded to shooting in the open. 



When at length the bird is brought to bag it repre- 

 sents a toiling through brush and bramble, wooded hill 

 and dale, scrambling over ledges and floundering 

 through swamps, all colored by constant expectancy, 

 unavoidably lost opportunities, and seeking to circum- 

 vent the birds by cunning woodcraft, supplemented by 

 the powers of the dog a degree of cunning, skill and 

 persistent effort greater than that required in the shoot- 

 ing of any other bird. 



It is shooting pitched in the highest key, and that 

 is why I think the shooter can justly feel a greater 

 glow of pleasure when he makes a successful shot at 

 ruffed grouse, and why he loves this sport above all 

 others, since it tests to the utmost his skill, his wood- 

 craft, his patience, his endurance and his dog; and of 

 the dogs, if he owns a good one, he owns one of a 

 thousand. 



