282 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
the birds coming to those places for water. This was 
not recounted to me as a matter of sport, nor is it so 
set forth here, but will give an idea of the numbers 
of the ruffed grouse in the sections where it is in the 
greatest abundance. 
But the sportsman who seeks the ruffed grouse for 
the true sport of it has a more exalted pleasure than 
comes from shooting any other game bird. First of 
all, he must be skilful with the gun, and when he 
shoots, be he ever so skilful, he can only apply such 
skill as he can muster in a moment, the opportunities 
of ruffed grouse shooting being but mere fragments 
of the opportunities accorded to shooting in the open. 
When at length the bird is brought to bag it repre- 
sents a toiling through brush and bramble, wooded hill 
and dale, scrambling over ledges and floundering 
through swamps, all colored by constant expectancy, 
unavoidably lost opportunities, and seeking to circum- 
vent the birds by cunning woodcraft, supplemented by 
the powers of the dog—a degree of cunning, skill and 
persistent effort greater than that required in the shoot- 
ing of any other bird. 
It is shooting pitched in the highest key, and that 
is why I think the shooter can justly feel a greater 
glow of pleasure when he makes a successful shot at 
ruffed grouse, and why he loves this sport above all 
others, since it tests to the utmost his skill, his wood- 
craft, his patience, his endurance and his dog; and of 
the dogs, if he owns a good one, he owns one of a 
thousand. 
