SHOOTING THE WOODS GROUSE 391 
guns, the stratagem was not always successful. No 
great amount of wisdom was required to circumvent 
these birds. They had not been subjected to the con- 
stant pursuit suffered by the ever persecuted ruffed 
grouse of our eastern covers, and did not resort to his 
puzzling devices. They afforded great sport, but the 
shooting was very destructive to the birds. On the 
other hand, the thick cover which prevailed over much 
of the forest did not permit following up the birds, 
and if not secured on the first rise they were not seen 
again. : 
No doubt at the present time the dusky grouse are 
frequently shot over dogs in the Rocky Mountains. 
Any dog which had been broken on ruffed grouse would 
be serviceable also in finding its larger relative. Yet 
as the dusky grouse has been, until recently, altogether 
without education in this respect, the extreme caution 
needed in a dog used for ruffed grouse shooting would 
scarcely be required for the dusky grouse. 
It would be interesting to know whether, in modern 
days, the ruffed grouse, or the dusky grouse of the 
north Pacific coast, had been sufficiently pursued to 
acquire a wisdom which men of the eastern part of the 
continent usually expect the ruffed grouse to possess. 
