6 FEATHERED GAME 
of ‘‘fool hen,’’ because, being unacquainted 
with the kindly ways of man-in dealing with 
his weaker brethren, when an intruder comes 
into its seldom-troubled domains it will only fly 
up into the nearest tree to sit craning its neck 
and staring while the clumsiest bungler that 
ever pulled trigger may shoot it as it perches, 
—even staying upon its roost to scold and strut 
with its tail cocked over its back if the marks- 
man’s first trial should be unsuccessful. Thus 
does it meet the usual fate of trustful inno- 
cence. It is well known that in distant regions 
where little hunted the ruffed grouse will some- 
times do the same, though I think one would 
meet with small success in an attempt to take 
the ‘‘birch partridge’’ with a slipnoose on the 
end of a stick, as may often be done with these 
birds. When the Spruce Partridge has become 
better acquainted with the gunners, and later 
generations of hunted grouse have dodged shot 
among the tree tops until a wholesome fear of 
man has been implanted in their breasts, they 
will not fail to meet the demands of the most 
exacting sportsman or they are no true grouse. 
A friend tells me of a scene he came upon in 
Flagstaff, ‘‘in the Dead River country,’’ where a 
