PINNATED GROUSE. 



395 



disposition is to let it grow up to forest again. Experience 

 has proved, that, in a term of forty or fifty years, the new 

 growth of timber will be fit for the axe. Hence it may be 

 perceived, that the reproduction of trees, and the protection 

 they afford to heath-hens, would be perpetual, or, in other 

 words, not circumscribed by any calculable time, provided the 

 persecutors of the latter would be quiet. 



" Beneath these trees grow more dwarfish oaks, overspread- 

 ing the surface, sometimes with here and there a shrub, and 

 sometimes a thicket. These latter are from about two to ten 

 feet in height. Where they are the principal product, they 

 are called, in common conversation, brush, as the flats on which 

 they grow are termed brushy plains. Among this hardy 

 shrubbery may frequently be seen the creeping vegetable 

 named the partridgeberry, covering the sand with its lasting 

 verdure. In many spots, the plant which produces hurtle- 

 berries sprouts up among the other natives of the soil. These 

 are the more important ; though I ought to inform you, that 

 the hills reaching from east to west, and forming the spine of 

 the island, support kalmias, hickories, and many other species ; 

 that I have seen azalias and andromedas, as I passed through 

 the wilderness ; and that, where there is water, craneberries, 

 alders, beeches, maples, and other lovers of moisture, take 

 their stations. 



" This region, situated thus between the more thickly 

 inhabited strips, or belts, on the north and south sides of the 

 island, is much travelled by waggons, and intersected, accord- 

 ingly, by a great number of paths. 



" As to the birds themselves, the information I possess 

 scarcely amounts to an entire history. You, who know the 

 difficulty of collecting facts, will be the most ready to excuse 

 my deficiencies. The information I give you is such as I 

 rely on. For the purpose of gathering the materials, I have 

 repeatedly visited their haunts. I have likewise conversed with 

 several men who were brought up at the precincts of the grouse 

 ground, who had been witnesses of their habits and manners, 



