292 AMERICAN : GAME. 
of inaccessible rock-ledges, impenetrable rhododendron 
brakes, and deep sequestered hemlock-swamps ; this, the 
most uncomatable and self-protecting bird of all the vari- 
eties of American game; the only variety, perhaps, 
which never can by any means, fair or unfair, be exter- 
minated ‘from among us, so long as the rock-ribbed 
mountains tower toward the skies, and the forests clothe 
them with foliage never sere. 
At this period they would afford rare sport, as at all 
other seasons they afford none; and are, moreover, in far 
the best condition for the table, as the old birds are apt 
to be dry, unless hung up for several weeks before being 
cooked, which can, of course, only be done in winter, 
when the coldness of the weather prevents their becom- 
ing tainted, without absolutely freezing them. 
In my opinion, therefore, this the only bird, of Ameri- 
can game, which might well exist apart ftom almost all 
protection, is now so protected as to be almost rendered 
impossible to the gun of the fair sportsman; while for 
others, the tamest, the most easily killed, and the most 
rapidly decreasing of all our winged tribes, as the Wood- 
cock, for example, the mock protection afforded to them 
is but another word for the license to slaughter them 
half-fledged and half-grown, while the second brood is 
yet in the black-down, and unable to exist without the 
parent’s care.- ; ‘ 
I would myself desire to see the legitimate season for 
Ruffed Grouse-shooting made to commence with the first 
