SHOOTING THE WOODS GROUSE 381 
birds, and, finding them, they flush and follow them. 
When flushed by the dog, the bird generally takes to 
the trees, and the dog, barking, so engages their atten- 
tion that they fall an easy prey to the hunter, who 
often bags every bird in the covey under such circum- 
stances. Often, when flushed by the dog, they fly to 
the tree-tops immediately overhead, where, in fancied 
security, they watch the dog. The shooter then drops 
them one by one, taking the lowest birds first. The 
falling of the lowest ones does not disturb those above, 
though if a top bird is dropped the others fly away 
forthwith. 
As to the number a shooter can kill in a day, so 
much depends on the shooter’s skill, the bird supply, 
and the local shooting conditions, that these things 
alone determine it. 
In some sections of New England, two or three 
birds at the end of a day of diligent effort is consid- 
ered a highly successful result, and it is not an infre- 
quent occurrence in that section that a diligent day 
may have no birds at all at its ending. 
In certain sections of New York, Wisconsin, Minne- 
sota, Dakota, etc., and in the mountain sections where 
the ruffed grouse abound, such a bag would be consid- 
ered an absurdity, if held forth as an index to good 
shooting, industry and superior results. 
While in North Dakota I have heard of one bag 
of eighty birds, made to one gun in a day, something 
extraordinary. They were shot at the air holes along 
the banks of the Red River, after it had frozen over, 
