The Ruffed Grouse 123 



raising of the line of flight, it probably means 

 that the bird has gone to a tree. A thorough 

 scrutiny of the trees about where the bird dis- 

 appeared is then worth while. 



The question of the propriety of shooting a 

 treed grouse must be left to the discretion and 

 sportsmanship of the individual in pursuit. The 

 writer is a thorough believer in pure sport for 

 sport's sake; he prides himself upon having a 

 clean record from boyhood onward, and he 

 frankly admits having shot many a treed grouse, 

 and this after he was considered a very fair shot. 

 While caring nothing for the dead bird except as 

 a dainty fare for himself, or a gift to a friend, he 

 never hesitates over trimming the head off a 

 perching bird whenever, in his judgment, the 

 conditions forbid the hope of anything like a fair 

 flying shot. So long as the nature of the cover 

 offers a reasonably open field, true sportmanship 

 would insist upon the bird being given perhaps a 

 bit the best of the odds ; otherwise, it is merely 

 a problem of how badly one needs that particular 

 grouse. The same thing will apply to a bird seen 

 running — by the way, none too easy a proposition. 

 Very often in thickets such shots are quite pardon- 

 able. Those who care for the small rifle may find 

 pleasure in using it on treed birds ; yet it is ques- 

 tionable if such shooting is true sport, for even 

 an ordinary performer would seldom fail at such 



