214 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 
detached from any irregular land by several miles of 
grass. 
Some authorities have placed woodcock-shooting first in 
the list, and called it the fox-hunting of those pleasures in 
which the dog and gun form the chief accessories. As far 
as present British field-sports are concerned, I believe they 
are correct, but should the ruffed grouse be introduced, and 
Englishmen experience the suddenness of their rise, the ve- 
locity and irregularity of their flight, the uncertainty of their 
movements, and the beauty and size of this game when bag- 
ged, they would assuredly insert a saving clause. I doubt 
not many—lI believe all—of the warm admirers of shooting 
will agree with me that there is a superior pleasure in mak- 
ing a mixed bag—now a mallard, next a woodcock, per- 
chance thirdly a partridge, and so forth—loading your dis- 
charged barrel, scarcely knowing at what description of 
game it will be used: thus a reason for their introduction 
to England. 
If the inhabitants of the British Islands can boast of 
their pheasant and grouse, the Americans can in equal jus- 
tice laud their ruffed grouse and Virginian ortyx. 
CANADIAN OR SPRUCE GROUSE. 
Even to the red iris around the eye, so much does this 
bird resemble the red grouse of Scotland that it would be 
pardonable for any one who had not well known the lat- 
ter to confuse it with the former. Although the Canadian 
grouse and ruffed grouse are occasionally found upon the 
same range of country, the habitat of the former commences 
where that of the latter ceases, and extends up to almost 
the sixtieth degree of north latitude. Although occasion- 
ally flushed in packs, they are more frequently seen in pairs, 
and the denser the cover and more swampy the soil, the 
more abundant will they be found. So little do these birds 
