THE PINNATED GROUSE. 101 



David Eckley, Esq., residing at Boston, who is in the habit of shooting 

 them annually. 



'■'Dear Sir, — I have the pleasure of sending you a brace of Grouse from 

 Martha's Vineyard, one of the Elizabeth Islands, which for many years past 

 I have been accustomed to visit annually, for the purpose of enjoying the 

 sport of shooting these fine birds. Nashawenna is the only other island of 

 the group on which they are found. This, however, is a sort of preserve, 

 as the island being small and the birds few, strangers are not permitted to 

 shoot without the consent of the owners of the soil. It would be difficult to 

 assign a reason why they are found upon the islands above named, and not 

 upon others, particularly Nashann, which, being large, well wooded, and 

 abounding in feed, seems quite as favourable to the peculiar habits of the 

 birds. 



"Fifteen or twenty years ago, I know from my own experience, it was a 

 common thing to see as many birds in a day as we now see in a week; but 

 whilst they have grown scarcer, our knowledge of the ground has become 

 more extended, so that the result of a few weeks' residence of a party of 

 three, with which I usually take the field, is ten brace of birds. Packs of 

 twenty to fifty are now no longer seen, and the numbers have so diminished, 

 in consequence of a more general knowledge of their value, the price in 

 Boston market being five dollars per brace, that we rarely see of late more 

 than ten or twelve collected together. It is often observed, however, that 

 there is very little encouragement to be derived from the circumstance of 

 falling in with a large number, and that the greater the pack, the more likely 

 they are to elude the vigilance of the sportsman; though it must be acknow- 

 ledged that it is a most exhilarating yet tantalizing sight, to start a large 

 pack out of gunshot. To watch them as their wings glisten in the sun, 

 alternately sailing, fluttering, and skimming over the undulating ground, 

 apparently just about alighting, but exerting their strength and fluttering on 

 once more, some old stager of the pack leading them beyond an intervening 

 swell, out of harm's way, beyond which all is conjecture as to the extent or 

 the direction of their flight. In such a case, it is best to follow on as quick 

 and as straight as possible, keeping the eye fixed upon the tree or bush, 

 which served to mark them, and after having proceeded a reasonable distance 

 in the direction which they have flown, if a "clear" or "cutting place" 

 should lie in the course, the birds may be confidently expected to have 

 alighted there. They never in fact settle down where the woods are thick, 

 or the bushes close and tangled, but invariably in some open space, and often 

 in the roads; neither do they start from thick foliage or briary places, but 

 seek at once to disengage themselves from all embarrassment to their flight, 

 by attaining the nearest open space, thus offering to the sportsman the 



Vol. V. 14 



