and the Maritime Provinces. 83 



" Nature protects the coon as she does the young deer ; in the breeding 

 season, in April or May and up to the middle of June, the animals give out 

 very little scent. They are ranging the woods, meadows, brooks and fields 

 as much during that period as during the first two months of autumn, but 

 the best-trained dogs never track them, and if they are found by dog or 

 man it is by accident. 



" About the middle of August they begin to give scent, but not pow- 

 erfully enough to make the dog sure upon their tracks if they strike water. 

 As late as the twentieth of August I have known dogs to follow one a quar- 

 ter of a mile splendidly until they reached a brook he had crossed. By 

 circling they found the track, where the water had dried from his feet, and 

 the scent lay strong enough for them to follow ; and have known this 

 game to last for hours. 



" When coons go to their winter quarters, in hollow trees or ledges, 

 fat, they are sure to be plenty on the following year ; but if they go there 

 in poor condition it is several years before they are plenty again. When 

 the axe goes into the woods the coon begins to leave. I am inclined to 

 the opinion that the raccoon has more cunning than the fox, and has more 

 fight in him than any other wild animal of his size. The dogs are few in 

 number that can kill an old one without assistance. His teeth are long 

 and sharp, and he uses them with great power. He can also scratch with 

 his long, sharp claws like a cat. I have seen one, when shaken from a 

 tree, roll himself up like a ball and drop from a considerable height, appar- 

 ently without injury. I think some of the hardest tramping I have ever 

 done has been in a coon hunt at night." 



" The raccoon is a destructive beast among partridges," said the 

 Judge ; " he will eat every egg that he can find and the old bird, too, if she 

 permits him to catch her." 



" You are right, Judge," said I, " and the wonder to me is that with 

 all its enemies the partridge is not exterminated." 



" Yes," responded the Judge, " and it 's a pity that it is so much 

 molested, for I regard it as the most valuable of our eastern game birds." 



The Judge was right, and I have no doubt that if twenty sportsmen 

 were asked the question, " which, in your opinion, is our most valuable 

 game bird " ? the reply from nineteen of them would be " the partridge." 



The ruffed grouse, Bonasa umbellus, is the most generally distributed 

 of all our game birds. It is known in Pennsylvania, and some of the 

 Western and Southern States as the " pheasant " ; in New England and the 

 Provinces it is called the "partridge," "gray partridge," "birch part- 

 ridge," and "ruffed grouse," and even by other names, butno matter what 

 its cognomen may be, it is regarded as the game bird par excellence, and is 

 hunted with a degree of enthusiasm such as is not felt in the pursuit of 

 any other bird. 



