296 AMERICAN GAME, 
‘themselves, so as to-frustrate all his efforts to obtain a 
shot; this I have seen done so often as to satisfy me 
that it is the result, not of chance, but of a deliberate 
instinct. 
The Ruffed Grouse rises, at first, when surprised, with 
a heavy whirring and laborious flutter, and if taken at 
that moment within range, is easily shot; he rises for 
the most part a little higher than the head of a tall man, 
and goes away swift and strong nearly in a horizontal 
line. If struck behind, he will carry away a heavy load 
of shot, and he has a trick of flying until his breath 
leaves him in the air, and then falls dead before he 
strikes the ground. Occasionally he towers up with the 
wind, and then setting his wings, skates down before it 
at a prodigious rate, without moving a feather; and, if 
you get a shot at him, gentle reader, under such circum- 
stances, crossing you at long range, be sure that you 
shoot two, or, by ’r lady, three feet ahead of him, or you 
may cut off his extreme tail-feathers, but of a surety kill 
him you shall not. 
The Ruffed Grouse usually flies in a perfectly right 
line, so that if you flush one without getting a shot, and 
can preserve his line exactly, you may find him, if he 
have not treed, which it is ten to one he has; wherefore 
T advise you not to follow him. The exception to this 
right line of flight, is when the ground'is broken into 
ridges with parallel ravines, in which case the bird, on 
crossing a ridge at right angles, will rarely cross the 
