2 FEATHERED GAME 
quails and the ptarmigans than to the other 
grouse. 
Their homes are in the boggy portions of the 
woods—swampy ground carpeted in summer 
with moss and trailing vines, deep-shaded with 
spruce and hemlock—where quaking bogs and 
mire over which they pass with light and nimble 
steps make the footing of the pursuer treacher- 
ous in the extreme—almost impassable haunts 
at any other than the winter season. In the 
summer months they feed upon the insects, 
wild fruits and berries of the woods and at this 
season their flesh can scarcely be distinguished 
from that of the ruffed grouse in flavor. In- 
deed, upon examination of the barrels of ‘‘birch 
partridges’’ which were annually destroyed in 
the Maine woods by illegal snaring, (now hap- 
pily almost a thing of the past because our mar- 
kets are closed to the sale of game), many 
Spruce Grouse were to be found, having been 
passed off upon the dealer as ruffed grouse, and 
as this better bird were they sold to inexperi- 
enced buyers. But with the coming of the snow 
the days of plenty have passed and there is lit- 
tle left for them but the leaves and buds of the 
various evergreens which make the forests of 
