210 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 
bottom -lands that margin so many of the South -western 
rivers, he is not to be found. No, rolling country and 
hilly spurs are his home, where, deep in the shelter of the 
laurel, cedar, hemlock, hazel, and birch, he can laugh at his 
pursuers, unless they are the very quickest and best of shots. 
But I allude to where he has known man, and learned to 
dread his presence as ominous of evil; for when such is not 
the case, if flushed, they are often satisfied to settle upon 
the first tree in the neighborhood, regarding the intruder 
with looks of wonder, and remain gratifying their excited 
curiosity till the whole covey have been shot in detail. 
Throughout Canada West they are numerous. At the 
northern end of. Lake Simcoe I found them very abundant, 
also on the hill-sides that cradle in the lovely, ‘peaceful 
Lake Umbagog, in Oxford County, Maine; but Western 
Maryland and Virginia are also favorite haunts—in fact, it 
may be found everywhere where wood, water, and hill-side 
combine to form for it a suitable haunt, between thirty-two 
and fifty degrees of north latitude. No.6 shot I prefer for 
shooting ruffed grouse, as from the nature of the ground 
on which they are found, more birds are killed at short 
range than at longer distances. 
The characteristics of the ruffed grouse make them bet- 
ter adapted for a residence in England then the prairie-hen ; 
and so strongly am I disposed in their favor, that I believe 
if once introduced they would, as soon as known, outrival 
the pheasant in popularity, being much hardier, swifter on 
the wing, lying better to dogs, disinclined to run before 
flushing, requiring the quickest and straightest aim to 
bring them to bag: moreover, independent of these sport- 
ing perfections, they are not much inferior to the Oriental 
favorite in beauty of plumage. 
The ruffed grouse a little exceeds the red grouse of Scot- 
land in size, being almost eighteen inches in length, is very 
