PINNATED GROUSE. 271 



times in Riverhead and Southampton. — Their territory has been defined 

 by some sportsmen, as situated between Hempstead-plain on the west, 

 and Shinnecock-plain on the east. 



" The more popular name for them is Heath-hens. By this they are 

 designated in the act of our legislature for the preservation of them and 

 of other game. I well remember the passing of this law. The bill was 

 introduced by Cornelius J. Boggert, Esq., a member of the Assembly 

 from the city of New York. It was in the month of February, 1791. 



" The statute declares among other things, that the person who shall 

 kill any Heath-hen within the counties of Suffolk or Queens, between 

 the first day of April and the fifth day of October, shall for every such 

 ofience, forfeit and pay the sum of two dollars and a half, to be 

 recovered with costs of suit, by any person who shall prosecute for the 

 same, before any justice of the peace, in either of the said counties ; 

 the one half to be paid to the plaintifi", and the other half to the over- 

 seers of the poor. And if any Heath-hen so killed, shall be found in 

 the possession of any person, he shall be deemed guilty of the offence, 

 and suffer the penalty. But it is provided, that no defendant shall be 

 convicted unless the action shall be brought within three months after 

 the violation of the law.* 



" The country selected by these exquisite birds requires a more par- 

 ticular description. You already understand it to be the midland and 

 interior district of the island. The soil of this island is, generally 

 speaking, a sandy or gravelly loam. In the parts less adapted to tillage, 

 it is more of an unmixed sand. This is so much the case, that the 

 shore of the beaches beaten by the ocean, affords a material from which 

 glass has been prepared. Siliceous grains and particles predominate in 

 ■ the region chosen by the Heath-hens or Grouse. Here there are no 

 rocks, and very few stones of any kind. This sandy tract appears to 

 be a dereliction of the ocean, but is nevertheless not doomed to total 

 sterility. Many thousand acres have been reclaimed from the wild 

 state, and rendered very productive to man. And within the towns 

 frequented by these birds, there are numerous inhabitants, and among 

 them some of our most wealthy farmers. 



" But within the same limits, there are also tracts of great extent 

 where men have no settlements, and others where the population is spare 



* The doctor has probably forgotten a circumstance of rather a ludicrous kind 

 that occurred at the passing of this law; and which was, not long ago, related to 

 me by my friend Mr. Gardiner, of Gardiner's Island, Long Island. The bill was 

 entitled " An Act for the preservation of Heath-hen and other Game." The honest 

 chairman of the Assembly, no sportsman I suppose, read the title " An Act for the 

 preservation of Heathen and other Game 1" which seemed to astonish the north 

 members, who could not see the propriety of preserving Indians, or any other 

 Heathen. 



