GROUSE. 123 



mostly filled their crops and gone to the grass and cornfields, 

 where they remain till three in the afternoon. During the middle 

 of the day they are hard to find, as they do not move about much. 

 At this time of day hunt in the grass along the edge of the stubble 

 not more than eighty rods from the edge, and along the hill-sides 

 and on windy days always on the leeward slope. Many may be 

 shot in the cornfields by keeping the dog well in and taking a snap 

 shot as the bird tops the tall com. When a large number go down 

 in the grass they run off in every direction, and make fine trailing 

 for the dog. They always try to alight on some spot out of sight 

 from where they rise. They generally fly over one rise of the 

 prairie, and stop two-thirds of the way up the next, or fly round one 

 point and stop on the next. After a little experience one can gen- 

 erally tell from the lay of the land where they stopped. 



No one can have any idea what Grouse shooting is west of the 

 Missouri River without going there. The prairie is bright and 

 beautiful, and the breeze bracing. Although the thermometer often 

 shows 140° in the sun, yet on the knolls you always have a de- 

 licious breeze. In the Northern and Middle States the Pinnated 

 Grouse is nearly extinct. In 1850 there were a few on Long 

 Island and in New Jersey. On Jersey plains the last were killed. 

 The pot hunter finished the sport and doomed the Grouse through 

 these regions by killing them before the law allows their b,eing 

 killed. In Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio there 

 are a few birds left, still, it is a hard day's work for three guns to 

 bag forty head during the morning and evening, the middle of the 

 day being too warm for pleasure. In the cornfields of Iowa and Min- 

 nesota hundreds of Grouse will rise in a pack during the months of 

 November and December ; and in August, September and Octo- 

 ber, when you flush a brood they either go for a cornfield or the 

 tall g^ass near the water, and commence running in every direc- 

 tion. The Grouse is only fit for the table during the latter part of 

 August, September, and October. 



Old birds should not be shot if the sportsman can make a 

 choice, as they are tough and stringy, far inferior for culinary pur- 

 poses, to their juniors. As a general thing this Grouse selects a 

 dry situation, and shows no disposition to travel like the Ruffed 

 Giouse or Quail, very seldom drinking from a running stream, but 



