260 PINNATED GROUSE. 
Grouse are short, but sudden, rapid, and whirring. I have not heard 
of any success in taming them. ‘They seem to resist all attempts at 
domestication. In this, as well as in many other respects, they re- 
semble the Quail of New York, or the Partridge of Pennsylvania, 
“ Manners. — During the period of mating, and while the females 
are occupied in incubation, the males have a practice of assembling, 
principally by themselves. T’o some select and central spot, where 
there is very little underwood, they repair from the adjoining district. 
From the exercises performed there, this is called a scratching-place. 
The time of meeting is the break of day. As soon as the light ap- 
ears, the company assembles from every side, sometimes to the num- 
er of forty or fifty. When the dawn is past, the ceremony begins by 
a low tooting from one of the cocks, This is answered by another. 
They then come forth one by one from the bushes, and strut about 
with all the pride and ostentation they can display. Their necks are 
incurvated; the feathers on them are erected into a sort of ruff; the 
plumes of their tails are expanded like fans; they strut about in a style 
resembling, as nearly as small may be illustrated by great, the pomp 
of the Turkey cock. They seem to vie with each other in stateliness ; 
and, as they pass each other, frequently cast looks of insult, and utter 
notes of defiance. These are the signals for battles. They engage 
with wonderful spirit and fierceness. During these contests, they 
leap a foot or two from the ground, and utter a cackling, screaming, 
and discordant cry. 
“They have been found in these places of resort even earlier than 
the appearance of light in the east. This fact has led to the belief 
that a part of them assemble over night. The rest join them in the 
morning. This leads to the further belief that they roost on the 
ground. And the opinion is confirmed by the discovery of little rings 
of dung, apparently deposited by a flock which had passed the night 
together. After the appearance of the sun they disperse. 
“These places of exhibition have been often discovered by the 
hunters; and a fatal discovery it has been for the poor Grouse. Their 
destroyers construct for themselves lurking holes made of pine 
branches, called bough houses, within a few yards of the parade. 
Hither they repair with their fowling-pieces, in the latter part of the 
night, and wait the appearance of the birds. Watching the moment 
when two are proudly eyeing each other, or engaged in battle, or when 
a greater number can be seen in a range, they pour on them a de- 
structive charge of shot. This annoyance has been given in so many 
places, and to such extent, that the Grouse, after having been repeat- 
edly disturbed, are afraid to assemble. On approaching the spot to 
which their instinct prompts them, they perch on the neighboring 
trees, instead of alighting at the scratching-place. And it remains to 
be observed how far the restless and tormenting spirit of the marks- 
men may alter the native habits of the Grouse, and oblige them to 
betake themselves to new ways of life. 
“They commonly keep together in coveys, or packs, as the phrase 
is, until the pairing season. A full pack consists, of course, of ten or 
a dozen. Two packs have been known to associate. I lately heard 
of one whose nvmber amounted to twenty-two. They are so unapt to 
be startled, that a hunter, assisted by a dog, has been able to shoot 
