268 RUFFED GRODSE. 



ring noise, and flies with great vigor through the woods, bejona reach 

 of view, before it alights. With a good dog, however, they are easily 

 found ; and at some times exhibit a singular degree of infatuation, by 

 looking down, from the branches where they sit, on the dog below, who, 

 the more noise he keeps up, seems the more to confuse and stupefy 

 them, so that they may be shot down, one by one, till the whole are 

 killed, without attempting to fly oflf. In such cases, those on the lower 

 limbs must be taken first, for should the upper ones be first killed, in 

 their fall they alarm those below, who immediately fly off. In deep 

 snows they are usually taken in traps, commonly dead-traps,' supported 

 by a figure 4 trigger. At this season, when suddenly alarmed, they 

 frequently dive into the snow, particularly when it has newly fallen, 

 and coming out at a considerable distance, again take wing. They are 

 pretty hard to kill, and will often carry off a large load to the distance 

 of two hundred yards, and drop down dead. Sometimes in the depth 

 of winter they approach the farm house, and lurk near the barn, or 

 about the garden. They have also been often taken young and tamed, 

 so as to associate with the fowls ; and th^ir eggs have frequently been 

 hatched under the common hen ; but these rarely survive until full 

 grown. They are exceedingly fond of the seeds of grapes ; occasion- 

 ally eat ants, chestnuts, blackberries, and various vegetables. Formerly 

 they were numerous in the immediate vicinity of Philadelphia ; but as 

 the woods were cleared, and population increased, they retreated to the 

 interior. At present there are very few to be found within several miles 

 of the city, and those only singly, in the most solitary and retired 

 woody recesses. 



The Pheasant is in best order for the table in September and Octo- 

 ber. At this season they feed chiefly on whortleberries, and the little 

 red aromatic partridgeberries, the last of which gives their flesh a pecu- 

 liar delicate flavor. With the former our mountains are literally covered 

 from August to November ; and these constitute at that season the 

 greater part of their foodr- During the deep snows of winter, they have 

 recourse to the buds of alder, and the tender buds of the laurel. I 

 have frequently found their crops distended with a large handful of these 

 latter alone ; and it has been confidently asserted, that after having fed 

 for some time on the laurel buds, their flesh becomes highly dangerous 

 to eat of, partaking of the poisonous qualities of the plant. The same 

 has been asserted of the flesh of the deer, when in severe weather, and 

 deep snows, they subsist on the leaves and bark of the laurel. Though 

 I have myself eat freely of the flesh of the Pheasant, after emptying it 

 of large quantities of laurel buds, without experiencing any bad conse- 

 quences, yet, from the respectability of those, some of them eminent 

 physicians, who have particularized cases in which it has proved delete- 

 rious, and even fatal, I am inclined to believe that in certain cases 



