PINNATED GROUSE. 271 
times in Riverhead and Southampton. — Their territory has been denned 
by some sportsmen, as situated between Hempstead-plain on the west, 
and Shinnecock-plain on the east. 
" The more popular name for them is Heath-liens. By this they are 
designated in the act of our legislature for the preservation of them and 
of other game. I well remember the passing of this law. The bill was 
introduced by Cornelius J. Boggert, Esq., a member of the Assembly 
from the city of New York. It was in the month of February, 1791. 
" The statute declares among other things, that the person who shall 
kill any Heath-hen within the counties of Suffolk or Queens, between 
the first day of April and the fifth 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 provided, that no defendant shall be 
convicted unless the action shall be brought within three months after 
the violation of the law.* 
" The country selected by these exquisite birds requires a more par- 
ticular description. You already understand it to be the midland and 
interior district of the island. The soil of this island is, generally 
speaking, a sandy or gravelly loam. In the parts less adapted to tillage, 
it is more of an unmixed sand. This is so much the case, that the 
shore of the beaches beaten by the ocean, affords a material from which 
glass has been prepared. Siliceous grains and particles predominate in 
the region chosen by the Heath-hens or Grouse. Here there are no 
rocks, and very few stones of any kind. This sandy tract appears to 
be a dereliction of the ocean, but is nevertheless not doomed to total 
sterility. Many thousand acres have been reclaimed from the wild 
state, and rendered very productive to man. And within the towns 
frequented by these birds, there are numerous inhabitants, and among 
them some of our most wealthy farmers. 
" But within the same limits, there are also tracts of great extent 
where men have no settlements, and others where the population is spare 
* The doctor has probably forgotten a circumstance of rather a ludicrous kind 
that occurred at the passing of this law; and which was, not long ago, related to 
me by my friend Mr. Gardiner, of Gardiner's Island, Long Island. The bill was 
entitled " An Act for the preservation of Heath-hen and other Game." The honest 
chairman of the Assembly, no sportsman I suppose, read the title "An Act for the 
preservation of Heathen and other Game!" which seemed to astonish the north 
members, who could not see the propriety of preserving Indians, or any other 
Heathen. 
