AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



23 



takes flight, will frequently run a short distance, and then 

 dart off with incredible velocity. Should you be hunting 

 on hill sides, one should always hunt at the base, and the 

 other some distance up, or on the hill-top, — the former 

 keeping in advance of his companion and dog, for it often 

 occurs, that the bird will rise some distance ahead of the 

 object that appears to be following it, and an opportunity 

 is thus afforded to the advanced Sportsman of getting a 

 favourable shot, while the other can view the course the 

 bird may take, in case it should escape. 



A Pheasant will always fly in an opposite direction to 

 its pursuer; but if two are thus hunting, it is more than 

 probable the bird will make its line of flight direct be- 

 tween them, and give, perhaps, both shooters an opportu- 

 nity of killing it. These birds will sometimes settle in 

 trees or bushes, when driven up by a dog, merely to avoid 

 the same, as it would every other enemy of the brute 

 kind; but if the bird does this, you may rest assured it is 

 either insensible of human presence, or ignorant as yet of 

 its nature. For in almost every instance, the bird rushes 

 from the voice and footsteps of man, as its most dreaded 

 enemy. 



Although this Grouse is a solitary bird, it often hap- 

 pens, late in the fall, two, or even more, will associate to- 

 gether, — and whenever the Sportsman, at this time, should 

 spring one bird, he should always be on the alert for 

 another. 



At the close of September, and until the middle of Octo- 

 ber, I have found these birds yet congregated in flocks, 

 under the parental care, even in some cases until they are 

 fully grown; but this has generally been in those parts 

 where they have remained unmolested in the enjoyment 

 of social intercourse. At such a time they may be fol- 

 lowed very successfully; but when disturbed repeatedly 

 by a human creature, the flock becomes separated, and they 

 never again unite. In shooting these birds I have always 

 employed an ordinary size double gun, and never larger 

 than No. 5, but generally No. 6 shot. For a more parti- 

 cular account of the Ruffed Grouse, the reader is referred 

 to page 13, Vol. I. of the "Cabinet of Natural History." 



The Pinnated Grouse, however, has usually ranked 

 first in the list of our feathered game, and whenever you 

 hear Sportsmen talk of Grouse shooting, they always al- 

 lude to this bird. 



Most Sportsmen know only of the existence of this one 

 species as a Grouse, — as the former bird is usually called 

 the Pheasant, (by some the Partridge,) and the four latter, 

 by their remoteness, seem only to be known to natural- 

 ists, and a few travellers. Therefore, when the Sports- 

 man or public are speaking of Grouse, they mean the 

 Pinnated Grouse. 



This bird exists nowhere but on plains and barren moun- 

 tains, protected only by high grass and small shrubbery, 

 and is seldom seen in the neighbourhood of water. Its thirst 

 is satisfied by dew-drops and rain; and in consequence of 

 this habit, it is rendered an object of laborious pursuit 

 both to Sportsmen and dogs, as the excessive fatigue in 

 hunting creates violent thirst, and no water being at hand 

 to relieve them, the dogs often are obliged to give over, 

 frequently before half of the day is expended. To remedy 

 this, Sportsmen are obliged to carry water for themselves 

 and dogs to some spot convenient on the ground they in- 

 tend to range. 



The Pinnated Grouse is found in New-Jersey, within 

 twenty-five miles of Philadelphia, but not in numbers. 

 They have been persecuted and killed, and almost exter- 

 minated, by Sportsmen from Philadelphia, the to wns of New 

 Jersey, and the immediate neighbourhood of the plains, 

 who destroy them so early in the season, that they be- 

 come easy and sure victims to the rapacity of these un- 

 feeling men. 



In consequence of the labour and expense attending 

 Grouse shooting, and the uncertainty of success, most 

 Sportsmen shrink from the pursuit, and it is confined, in 

 the Atlantic states, to but comparatively a few indivi- 

 duals, and these are inhabitants of New- York, New-Jer- 

 sey, and Pennsylvania; and the parts now resorted to 

 by them, are the Plains of Long Island, and those of 

 Gloucester, Burlington, and Monmouth counties of New- 

 Jersey, and the Pocono and Broad Mountains, of Penn- 

 sylvania, and the whole range of high lands east of them 

 to the river Delaware. It is ascertained that these birds 

 are found in small numbers also on Martha's Vineyard. 



The prairies of the west, however, are the chief abode 

 of this interesting bird, where they exist in multitudes, 

 and often become nuisances to residents in those parts, in 

 consequence of the numbers which visit farms and other 

 settlements, in particular seasons of the year, and are fre- 

 quently destroyed, not for any value attached to the bird, 

 but to prevent the injury which might otherwise accrue 

 from their great numbers. 



To hunt Grouse properly, you should always be sup- 

 plied with a reserve of dogs, not having less than four, and 

 from that number to eight, according to the strength of 

 your company. This number should be divided so as to 

 hunt them on alternate days. For this hunting, the 

 Pointer is superior to the Setter, as he can sustain heat 

 and thirst much better. 



In the whole range of our sports there is none so fatiguing-, 

 or that tests theenergiesof the hunter and his dogs so much 

 as Grouse shooting, for it occurs during that season when the 

 sun is yet in its full power, (September and beginning of 



