11(5 WILLOW GROUSE. 



mud, and so fatigued, that when we returned, we found it impossible to 

 pi'oceed more than a few yards before we were forced to sit down on the 

 dangerous sward, which at every step shook for a considerable space around, 

 so that we were obliged to keep at a distance from each other, and move 

 many yards apart, constantly fearing that the least increase of weight would 

 have burst the thin layer that supported us, and sent us into a depth from 

 which we could not have been extricated. But once out of the bog:, we 

 were delighted with the success of our enterprise, and as we refreshed our- 

 selves from our scanty stores, when we had reached the rocky shores of the 

 sea, we laughed heartily at what had happened, although only a few hours 

 before it was considered a most serious accident. 



As I am speaking of fowling in Labrador, allow me to relate an incident 

 connected with the Willow Grouse. Among our crew was a sailor, who 

 was somewhat of a wag. He was a "man-of-war's-man," and had seen a 

 good deal of service in our navy, an expert sailor, perhaps the best diver I 

 have seen, always willing to work hard, and always full of fun. This sailor 

 and another had the rowing of our gig on an excursion after Grouse and 

 other wild birds. Thomas Lincoln and my son John Woodhouse, man- 

 aged the boat. The gig having landed on the main, the sailors, who had 

 guns, went one way, and the young travellers another. They all returned, 

 as was previously agreed upon, at the same hour, and produced the birds 

 which they had procured. The sailors had none, and were laughed at. While 

 rowing towards the Ripley, we heard the cries of birds as if in the air; the 

 rowing ceased, but nothing could be seen, and we proceeded. Again the 

 sounds of birds were distinctly heard, but again none could be seen, and 

 what seemed strange was, that they were heard only at each pull of the oars. 

 The young men taxed the tar with producing the noises, as they saw him as 

 if employed in doing so with his mouth; however, the thing still remained 

 a mystery. Sometime after we had got on board, the provision basket was 

 called for, and was produced by Master Bill, who, grinning from ear to ear, 

 drew out of it two fine old Grouse, and a whole covey of young ones, in all 

 the exultation of one who had outwitted what he called his betters. 



While at the harbour of Bras d'Or, I was told by persons who had resided 

 in the country for many years, that, during the winter, when the snow 

 covers the ground, and the Grouse are obliged to scratch through it, in order 

 to get at the mosses and lichens, they are so abundant that a hundred or 

 more can be shot in a day, and congregate in flocks of immense numbers, 

 now and then mixed with the smaller species, called there the Rock Grouse, 

 (Lagopus rupestris.) Their flesh is then salted for summer use. At that 

 season they are of a pure white, except the tail, which retains its jetty black- 

 ness. I was further informed that their flesh is then dry, and not to be 



