376 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
It then is not an infrequent occurrence that the 
shooter will hear the startling whir of wings close by 
him, and yet be unable to shoot or to mark the bird’s 
course, from inability to see the bird at all. The light 
of the woods, broken and broken again, as it is through 
the irregular openings in the tree-tops, and branches 
and leaves interposing, with here and there shafts of 
clear light, and masses of shadows interspersed every- 
where, tends to interfere with quick and clear vision, 
and adds to the difficulty of accurate shooting, thus 
differing widely from shooting in the open. 
The successful ruffed grouse shooter must be ever 
promptly ready to shoot, and further, must be quick 
of eye and action. He must instantly decide on the 
manner of making the shot, taking advantage of all 
the few opportunities offered, and avoiding the ob- 
structions which interpose. No studied effort at aim- 
ing is possible. Cover shooting of all kinds requires 
quick action, but ruffed grouse shooting requires the 
quickest. Of all snap shooting, ruffed grouse shoot- 
ing is the snappiest, and the successful shooter of that 
bird must excel in that kind of shooting, since in most 
cases he will have but a brief instant’s glimpse of the 
bird in the unfavorable mixed lights of shadows and 
cover. 
For this shooting the gun should be light, short of 
barrel—z26 to 28 inches—and a cylinder bore, for a full 
choked barrel is entirely out of place in such cover 
shooting, equally unsatisfactory when it does or does 
