and the Maritime Provinces. 335 



Gray squirrels are migratory, coming and going almost in a night. 

 Their migrations are directed by the food supply, and the year following 

 good nut crops usually affords good hunting. They have the ill-will of 

 the farmers because they are great corn thieves, and in September good 

 shooting can be obtained by sitting quietly between a piece of woods and 

 an adjacent cornfield, picking off the squirrels as they pass from field to 

 cover. They can hardly be treated as game animals and many sportsmen 

 will not shoot them. By using a rifle, however, the marksmanship of the 

 hunter is thoroughly tested. 



The woodchuck is hardly worthy of mention in an article of this kind, 

 except that he furnishes rifle practice at a season when there is no other 

 attraction to call out the sportsman. Their destruction is a benefit to the 

 farmer, but in spite of the fact that they are extensively hunted before the 

 grass is high enough to conceal them, they hold their own. Their cunning, 

 combined with stupidity, and their habits would furnish quite an inter- 

 esting chapter. 



In mentioning the game birds of Vermont, the ruffed grouse, commonly 

 called partridge, easily takes precedence and is found in all the wooded 

 portions of the State. It appears to prefer patches of woods in the 

 vicinity of farms, perhaps for its better protection against vermin. While 

 protected by legislation, its abundance varies from year to year, being 

 affected greatly by the nature of the weather during the breeding season. 

 As an illustration, during the springs of 1895 and 1896, there was little 

 rainfall, and warm weather prevailed during the breeding seasons. As a 

 result, the shooting in the following open seasons was unusually good. 

 Partridges were reported more plentiful throughout the State than for many 

 years previous. During the spring of 1897 the rainfall was tremendous, 

 and the weather very cold. As a result, very few birds have been found 

 during the present open season, and most of those seen are old ones. 



Woodcock are found in their natural haunts throughout the State, but 

 there are so few hunters who are familiar with their habits that in many 

 places they come and go without being molested. The shooting begins 

 September 1st, and the brood birds at this season are found near their nest- 

 ing grounds and in the blackberry pastures. As the season advances, they 

 work in the alders or fly south when the flight birds succeed them. The 

 best season for woodcock shooting is the month of October, although in 

 some localities sportsmen cannot find them after the month of September. 

 The flight birds remain in Vermont during the early part of November, 

 unless driven south by extreme cold weather. 



There is perhaps no section of the New England or Middle Atlantic 

 States which affords better duck shooting than exists in the Missisquoi 

 marshes of northern Lake Champlain. The black ducks and other 

 varieties breed in these marshes, which are protected and privately con- 



