PINNATED GROUSE. 



393 



breadth is not more than six or seven. For, although the 

 island is bounded by the Sound, separating it from Connec- 

 ticut on the north, and by the Atlantic Ocean on the south, 

 there is a margin of several miles, on each side, in the actual 

 possession of human beings. 



" The region in which these birds reside, lies mostly within 

 the towns of Oysterbay, Huntington, Islip, Smithtown, and 

 Brookhaven ; though it would be incorrect to say, that they 

 were not to be met with sometimes in Riverhead and South- 

 ampton. Their territory has been defined by some sportsmen, 

 as situated between Hampstead Plain on the west, and Shinne- 

 cock Plain on the east. 



" The more popular name for them is heath-hens. By this 

 they are designated in the act of our legislature for the preser- 

 vation of them and of other game. I well remember the pass- 

 ing of this law. The bill was introduced by Cornelius J. 

 Bogert, Esq., a member of the Assembly from the city of New 

 York. It was in the month of February 1791, the year when, 

 as a representative from my native county of Queens, I sat 

 for the first time, in a legislature. 



" The statute declares, among other things, that the person 

 who shall kill any heath-hen within the counties of Suffolk 

 or Queens, between the 1st day of April and the 5th day of 

 October, shall, for every such offence, forfeit and pay the sum 

 of two dollars and a half, to be recovered, with costs of suit, 

 by any person who shall prosecute for the same, before any 

 justice of the peace, in either of the said counties; the one 

 half to be paid to the plaintiff, and the other half to the over- 

 seers of the poor ; and if any heath-hen, so killed, shall be 

 found in the possession of any person, he shall be deemed 

 guilty of the offence, and suffer the penalty. But it is pro- 

 vided, that no defendant shall be convicted, unless the action 

 shall be brought within three months after the violation of the 

 law.* 



* The doctor has probably forgotten a circumstance of rather a 

 ludicrous kind, that occurred at the passing of this law, and which was, 



