AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
15 
THE VARIETY OF GAME IN NEW-JERSEY. 
There is perhaps no spot in the United States, of the 
same area as the State of New- Jersey, which so abounds 
in the variety of game common to this country; certainly 
there is not, in any civilized or cultivated neighbourhood 
in any part of our widely extended continent, a place 
where the sportsman and naturalist may resort, the one 
for recreation, and the other for science, and so fully enjoy 
the objects of their pursuit as in the small, but interesting 
state of New- Jersey. 
In the successive seasons for shooting, a great plentitude 
of game may be found in all parts of this state, and no 
sooner does the genial influence of the opening spring 
spread its beneficial effects, than this region is among the 
first to be hailed by the carols of the many warblers, 
which commence their northern migration; and for Orni- 
thological research, it always has been esteemed one of 
the best districts on the continent. Of the variety which 
enters the catalogue of game in this country, the follow- 
ing may be found in the state of New-Jersey. 
Snipe. In March, and until their final migration to the 
north in May, all the low lands abound with these birds, 
but especially the meadows along the water courses. 
They are occasionally found through the summer, but 
return again in numbers from the north in September and 
October, and remain a short period previous to their flight 
for winter quarters in the south. 
Woodcock. It is well known to most of the sportsmen 
in the cities of New-York and Philadelphia, that Wood- 
cock abound throughout every part of this state. The 
soil appears peculiarly adapted to the habits of these birds; 
being soft, and free from stones and other hard substances, 
is every way suited for their long and flexible bills to 
penetrate in search of food free from obstruction. It is 
the favourite place of resort for sportsmen when in search 
of Woodcock, in preference to any other ground, as their 
success is generally twofold more here than in other places. 
On the low lands west of New-York, and those meadows 
in the interior of the state, known generally by the name 
of “ Atsion Meadows,” as well as those extensive low 
lands which bound the Delaware, commencing a few miles 
below Philadelphia, and running south for twenty or 
' thirty miles, are places in which multitudes of these birds 
are destroyed, during the regular seasons for sporting. I 
have heard of a party of two or three gentlemen, on some 
spot in the former place, having killed, in one day, up- 
wards of eighty Woodcock; and but recently, I was in- 
formed by a gentleman, who formed one of a party on a 
fourth of July excursion, that on a very small spot of a few 
acres, in Salem county, as many as one hundred and fifty 
had been killed during that day, and numbers more on the 
same spot the day succeeding. Certain it is, that an ex- 
cursion to any good spot of ground in this state, is seldom 
unsuccessful. 
The Quail , or Partridge. This state appears to be the 
settled home for this most interesting of all birds. Of the 
great variety of birds which every where abounds through- 
out New-Jersey, none appears so much attached to its soil, 
as this innocent bird. Other birds, as the seasons change, 
depart for distant climes; but the Partridge is ever to be 
found in this region; and when not persecuted by sports- 
men, it becomes so accustomed to the sight of men, as to 
make it half domesticated. Whatever scarcity prevails 
generally in other districts, this well-known bird may 
always be found here. Perched on a stump, or on the 
fence, beneath the shade of an apple tree, at the close of a 
sultry summer’s day, the male bird sends forth those clear, 
expressive, and familiar words, u Bob White,” which 
awaken so many pleasing recollections of the past, and 
enlivening anticipations of the future, that it is ever a wel- 
come visitor. These notes, too, proclaim that “Seed 
time and harvest have come” — for they occur only during 
those months. The many uncultivated parts; the exten- 
sive tracts of bush land, and the numerous swamps, all 
afford so much protection to the Partridge from the many 
enemies which beset them on every side. Indeed it ap- 
pears constituted by nature as a place of repose where 
their kind may most freely propagate. 
The Ruffecl Grouse, or Pheasant. Among the pines 
and laurel hills, may be found sometimes in numbers, the 
Pheasant. How often in his solitary rambles through the 
wood, when the mind is intensely fixed on other objects, 
is the passenger startled with a loud, whirring noise, like 
distant thunder, which makes his flesh fairly crawl! — it 
is this shy and most difficult of all birds to shoot, flee- 
ing the face of man as its great adversary. I have, in 
September and October, seen these birds in flocks of from 
six to sixteen. I well recollect, in the fall of 1824, start- 
ing, one after another, fourteen Pheasants from a large grape 
vine, which grew immediately opposite Philadelphia, on 
the edge of a thicket, well known to the sportsmen of the 
neighbourhood by the name of “ Kaign’s Swamp;” but I 
have seen them in greater abundance on the lofty hills of 
East Jersey, in my rambles after game. They are diffi- 
cult birds to kill, not only from the exceeding velocity of 
their flight, but by their seeking the most dense and diffi- 
cult thickets, and their well-known stratagem of running 
some distance first, and then flying off in an opposite di- 
rection from the sportsman. 
Pinnated Grouse. The barrens of Gloucester, and other 
counties of this state, have been the most celebrated 
