84 THE SPOTTED OR CANADA GROUSE. 



assure'you, reader, that to follow him through the dense and tangled woods 

 of his native country, or over the deep mosses of Labrador, where he 

 accompanied me afterwards, would be an undertaking not easily accom- 

 plished. The weather was warm, and the musquitoes and moose flies did 

 their best to render us uncomfortable. We however managed to follow our 

 guide the whole day, over fallen trees, among tangled brushwood, and 

 through miry ponds; yet not a single Grouse did we find, even in places 

 where he had before seen them, and great was my mortification, when, on 

 our return towards sunset, as we were crossing a meadow belonging to his 

 father, not more than a quarter of a mile from the village, the people 

 employed in making hay informed us that about half an hour after our 

 departure they had seen a fine covey. We were too much fatigued to go in 

 search of them, and therefore made for home. 



Ever ardent, if not impatient, I immediately made arrangements for 

 procuring some of these birds, offering a good price for a few pairs of old 

 and young, and in a few days renewed my search in company with a man 

 who had assured me he could guide me to their breeding grounds, and which 

 he actually did, to my great pleasure. These breeding grounds I cannot 

 better describe than by telling you that the larch forests, which are there 

 called "Hackmetack Woods," are as difficult to traverse as the most tangled 

 swamps of Labrador. The whole ground is covered by the most beautiful 

 carpeting of verdant moss, over which the light-footed Grouse walk with 

 ease, but among which we sunk at every step or two up to the waist, our 

 legs stuck in the mire, and our bodies squeezed between the dead trunks 

 and branches of the trees, the minute leaves of which insinuated themselves 

 among nry clothes, and nearly blinded me. We saved our guns from injury, 

 however, and seeing some of the Spruce Partridges before they perceived us, 

 we procured several specimens. They were in beautiful plumage, but all 

 male birds. It is in such places that these birds usually reside, and it is 

 very seldom that they are seen in the open grounds, beyond the borders of 

 their almost impenetrable retreats. On returning to my family, I found 

 that another hunter had brought two fine females, but had foolishly neglected 

 to bring the young ones, which he had caught and given to his children, 

 who, to my great mortification, had already cooked them when my messen- 

 ger arrived at his house. 



The Spruce Partridge or Canada Grouse breeds in the States of Maine 

 and Massachusetts about the middle of May, nearly a month earlier than at 

 Labrador. The males pay their addresses to the females by strutting before 

 them on the ground or moss, in the manner of the Turkey Cock, frequently 

 rising several yards in the air in a spiral manner, when they beat their wings 

 violently against their body, thereby producing a drumming noise, clearer 



