498 PINNATED GROUS. 



curious sounds, were unsuccessful, although the Ruffed Grous is easily 

 deceived in this manner. As soon as the strutting and fighting are over, 

 the collapsed bladders are concealed by the feathers of the ruff, and du- 

 ring autumn and winter are much reduced in size. These birds, indeed, 

 seldom, if ever, meet in groups on the scratching grounds after incuba^ 

 tion has taken place ; at all events, I have never seen them fight after 

 that period, for, like the Wild Turkeys, after spending a few weeks apart 

 to recover their strength, they gradually unite, and as soon as the young 

 are grown up, individuals of both sexes mix with the latter, and continue 

 in company till spring. The young males exhibit the bladders and elon- 

 gated feathers of the neck before the first winter, and by the next spring 

 have attained maturity, although, as in many other species, they increase 

 in size and beauty for several years. 



As I have never shot these birds in the Eastern States, and therefore 

 cannot speak from experience of the sport which they afford, I here intro- 

 duce a very interesting letter from a well known sportsman, my friend 

 David Eckleiy, Esq., residing at Boston, who is in the habit of shooting 

 them annually. 



" Dear Sir, — I have the pleasure of sending you a brace of Grous 

 from Martha's Vineyard, one of the Elizabeth Islands, which for many 

 years past I have been accustomed to visit annually, for the purpose of 

 enjoying the sport of shooting these fine birds. Nashawenna is the only 

 other island of the group on which they are found. This, however, is a 

 sort of preserve, as the island being small and the birds few, strangers 

 are not permitted to shoot without the consent of the owners of the soil. 

 It would be difficult to assign a reason why they are found upon the is- 

 lands above named, and not upon others, particularly Nashann, which, 

 being large, well wooded, and abounding in feed, seems quite as favour- 

 able to the peculiar habits of the birds. 



" Fifteen or twenty years ago, I know from my own experience, it 

 was a common thing to see as many birds in a day as we now see in a 

 week ; but whilst they have grown scarcer, our knowledge of the ground 

 has become more extended, so that the result of a few weeks' residence of 

 a party of three, with which I usually take the field, is ten brace of birds. 

 Packs of twenty to fifty are now no longer seen, and the numbers have 

 so diminished, in consequence of a more general knowledge of their value, 

 the price in Boston market being five dollars per brace, that we rarely 

 see of late more than ten or twelve collected together. It is often ob- 



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