86 DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS.—CLASS II. AVES. 
confirmed by the discovery of little rings of dung, apparently deposited by 
a flock which had passed the night together. After the appearance of the 
sun they disperse. 
“These places of exhibition have often been discovered by the hunters 
and a fatal discovery it has been for the poor grouse. Their destroyers con- 
> 
struct for themselves lurking-holes, made of pine branches, called bough 
houses, within a few yards of the parade. Hither they repair with their 
fowling-pieces, in the latter part of the night, and wait the appearance of 
the birds. Watching the moment when two are proudly eyeing each other, 
or engaged in battle, or when a greater number can be seen in a range, they 
pour on them a destructive charge of shot. This annoyance has been given 
in so many places, and to such extent, that the grouse, after having been 
repeatedly disturbed, are afraid to assemble. On approaching the spot to 
which their instinct prompts them, they perch on the neighboring trees, in- 
stead of alighting at the scratching-place; and it remains to be observed 
how far the restless and tormenting spirit of the marksmen may alter the 
native habits of the grouse, and oblige them to betake themselves to new 
ways of life. 
“They commonly keep together in coveys, or packs, as the phrase is, 
until the pairing season. <A full pack consists, of course, of ten or a dozen. 
Two packs have been known to associate. I lately heard of one whose 
number amounted to twenty-two. They are so unapt to be startled, that a 
hunter, assisted by a dog, has been able to shoot a whole pack, without 
making any of them take wing. In like manner, the men lying in conceal- 
ment near the scratching-places have been known to discharge several guns 
before either the report of the explosion, or the sight of their wounded and 
dead fellows, would rouse them to flight. It has further been remarked, 
that, when a company of sportsmen have surrounded a pack of grouse, the 
birds seldom or never rise upon their pinions while they are encircled, but 
each runs alone until it passes the person that is nearest, and then flutters 
off with the utmost expedition. 
“This bird, though an inhabitant of different and very distant districts of 
North America, is extremely particular in selecting his place of residence, 
pitching only upon those tracts whose features and productions correspond 
with his modes of life, and avoiding immense intermediate regions that he 
never visits. Open, dry plains, thinly interspersed with trees, or partially 
overgrown with shrub oak, are his favorite haunts. Accordingly, we find 
these birds on the grouse plains of New Jersey, in Burlington County, 
as well as on the brushy plains of Long Island; among the pines 
and shrub oaks of Pocano, in Northampton County, Pennsylvania; over the 
whole extent of the Barrens of Kentucky; on the luxuriant plains and 
