1888
Nov. 17
Grantville (Wellesley Hills), Massachusetts.
Clear and cold. Wind N.W. - moderate all day.
  To Grantville with Spelman by 10.15 a.m. train.
Reaching the station we again employed the depot
carriage to take us out a mile or two on the
"Brook" road. Out beat to-day began at about the
point where it ended during our last visit and
we covered nearly the same ground. In all we
saw about ten Ruffed Grouse and a bevy of three
Quail. Six of the Grouse were in the westernmost
piece of woods, one by the aqueduct bridge, and
then in dense oak scrub on the great hill south
of the turnpike.
  I shot three Grouse and two Quail. My first
Grouse started among dense oaks & birches & skimmed off
low over the ground. It fell wing-tipped ran about
20 y[ar]ds and hid in a hollow among oak leaves, merely
squatting. "Don" found it easily but ruined it for a
specimen when he caught it by pulling out all but
one tail feather. My second Grouse lay closely in
dense oak scrub on the high hill and when flushed
over Doris point rose straight up like a Black Duck
giving me an easy and nearly open shot. The
third bird, a female, after being started and shot at
twice lay as closely as a Quail on a steep hillside,
open undergrowth, but with rather densely growing oaks
interlacing their branches above. "Don" pointed this
bird very staunchly & when I stepped in
it rose within five feet of me.
There was absolutely no ground cover and it must
have merely squatted among the oak leaves. Like
the second bird it fell dead or nearly so, at