326 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
not a close carrier and a hard hitter, he will laugh you and 
your shot to scorn. 
It is true that he rises with so prodigious a flutter and 
rush, that he shakes the nerves of young shooters, and nine 
times out of ten gets away unharmed. It is true, that 
when flushed once, he mostly takes to the tree and cannot 
be found again; and, to conclude, it is true, that he is the 
wildest and shyest of all wood-hunting game, and that his 
habit of running three or four hundred yards away, as 
fast as he can ply his legs, from the spot where he is 
pointed, and then flying off at a bee-line, renders it diffi- 
cult indeed to get a shot at him. 
But therein is the difficulty; not in shooting hie. when 
one has the chance of a shot. For when he rises within 
range, although he does so with a fearful fuss and flutter, 
if one keep cool, and be not flurried, he hangs heavily at 
first on the air, displays a wide mark of rustling loose 
feathers to the aim, and is far from requiring an unusually 
hard blow to bring him. When he comes, great is the 
fall of him, and great the rejoicing over him in the 
dining-room and the kitchen; for if he be hung till he be 
thoroughly tender, quickly and discreetly roasted, and 
eaten off hot plates with bread sauce and fried bread 
crumbs, his tout ensemble is undeniable, and the fumet of 
his thighs and back-bone a thing worthy the knowledge 
of Apicius. For marking the ruffed grouse, the same rule 
holds good as of the quail; but, in all my experience, [ 
have not seen this bird marked a dozen times, so wildly 
does it fly. 
The woodcock, moreover, is now in full vigor, in full 
