SHOOTING THE WOODS GROUSE 391 



guns, the stratagem was not always successful. No 

 great amount of wisdom was required to circumvent 

 these birds. They had not been subjected to the con- 

 stant pursuit suffered by the ever persecuted ruffed 

 grouse of our eastern covers, and did not resort to his 

 puzzling devices. They afforded great sport, but the 

 shooting was very destructive to the birds. On the 

 other hand, the thick cover which prevailed over much 

 of the forest did not permit following up the birds, 

 and if not secured on the first rise they were not seen 

 again. 



No doubt at the present time the dusky grouse are 

 frequently shot over dogs in the Rocky Mountains. 

 Any dog which had been broken on ruffed grouse would 

 be serviceable also in finding its larger relative. Yet 

 as the dusky grouse has been, until recently, altogether 

 without education in this respect, the extreme caution 

 needed in a dog used for ruffed grouse shooting would 

 scarcely be required for the dusky grouse. 



It would be interesting to know whether, in modern 

 days, the ruffed grouse, or the dusky grouse of the 

 north Pacific coast, had been sufficiently pursued to 

 acquire a wisdom which men of the eastern part of the 

 continent usually expect the ruffed grouse to possess. 



