AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
23 
takes flight, will frequently run a short distance, and then 
dart off with incredible velocity. Should you be hunting 
on hill sides, one should always hunt at the base, and the 
other some distance up, or on the hill-top, — the former 
keeping in advance of his companion and dog, for it often 
occurs, that the bird will rise some distance ahead of the 
object that appears to be following it, and an opportunity 
is thus afforded to the advanced Sportsman of getting a 
favourable shot, while the other can view the course the 
bird may take, in case it should escape. 
A Pheasant will always fly in an opposite direction to 
its pursuer; but if two are thus hunting, it is more than 
probable the bird will make its line of flight direct be- 
tween them, and give, perhaps, both shooters an opportu- 
nity of killing it. These birds will sometimes settle in 
trees or bushes, when driven up by a dog, merely to avoid 
the same, as it would every other enemy of the brute 
kind; but if the bird does this, you may rest assured it is 
either insensible of human presence, or ignorant as yet of 
its nature. For in almost every instance, the bird rushes 
from the voice and footsteps of man, as its most dreaded 
enemy. 
Although this Grouse is a solitary bird, it often hap- 
pens, late in the fall, two, or even more, will associate to- 
gether, — and whenever the Sportsman, at this time, should 
spring one bird, he should always be on the alert for 
another. 
At the close of September, and until the middle of Octo- 
ber, I have found these birds yet congregated in flocks, 
under the parental care, even in some cases until they arc 
fully grown; but this has generally been in those parts 
where they have remained unmolested in the enjoyment 
of social intercourse. At such a time they may be fol- 
lowed very successfully; but when disturbed repeatedly 
by a human creature, the flock becomes separated, and they 
never again unite. In shooting these birds I have always 
employed an ordinary size double gun, and never larger 
than No. 5, but generally No. 6 shot. For a more parti- 
cular account of the Ruffed Grouse, the reader is referred 
to page 13, Vol. I. of the “ Cabinet of Natural History.” 
The Pinnated Grouse, however, has usually ranked 
first in the list of our feathered game, and whenever you 
hear Sportsmen talk of Grouse shooting, they always al- 
lude to this bird. 
Most Sportsmen know only of the existence of this one 
species as a Grouse, — as the former bird is usually called 
the Pheasant, (by some the Partridge,) and the four latter, 
by their remoteness, seem only to be known to natural- 
ists, and a few travellers. Therefore, when the Sports- 
man or public are speaking of Grouse, they mean the 
Pinnated Grouse. 
This bird exists no where but on plains and barren moun- 
tains, protected only by high grass and small shrubbery, 
and is seldom seen in the neighbourhood of water. Its thirst 
is satisfied by dew-drops and rain; and in consequence of 
this habit, it is rendered an object of laborious pursuit 
both to Sportsmen and dogs, as the excessive fatigue in 
hunting creates violent thirst, and no water being at hand 
to relieve them, the dogs often are obliged to give over, 
frequently before half of the day is expended. To remedy 
this, Sportsmen are obliged to carry water for themselves 
and dogs to some spot convenient on the ground they in- 
tend to range. 
The Pinnated Grouse is found in New-Jersey, within 
twenty-five miles of Philadelphia, but not in numbers. 
They have been persecuted and killed, and almost exter- 
minated, by Sportsmen from Philadelphia, the towns of New 
Jersey, and the immediate neighbourhood of the plains, 
who destroy them so early in the season, that they be- 
come easy and sure victims to the rapacity of these un- 
feeling men. 
In consequence of the labour and expense attending 
Grouse shooting, and the uncertainty of success, most 
Sportsmen shrink from the pursuit, and it is confined, in 
the Atlantic states, to but comparatively a few indivi- 
duals, and these are inhabitants of New-York, New-Jer- 
sey, and Pennsylvania; and the parts now resorted to 
by them, are the Plains of Long Island, and those of 
Gloucester, Burlington, and Monmouth counties of New- 
Jersey, and the Pocono and Broad Mountains, of Penn- 
sylvania, and the whole range of high lands east of them 
to the river Delaware. It is ascertained that these birds 
are found in small numbers also on Martha’s Vineyard. 
The prairies of the west, however, are the chief abode 
of this interesting bird, where they exist in multitudes, 
and often become nuisances to residents in those parts, in 
consequence of the numbers which visit farms and other 
settlements, in particular seasons of the year, and are fre- 
quently destroyed, not for any value attached to the bird, 
but to prevent the injury which might otherwise accrue 
from their great numbers. 
To hunt Grouse properly, you should always be sup- 
plied with a reserve of dogs, not having less than four, and 
from that number to eight, according to the strength of 
your company. This number should be divided so as to 
hunt them on alternate days. For this hunting, the 
Pointer is superior to the Setter, as he can sustain heat 
and thirst much better. 
In the whole range of our sports there is none so fatiguing, 
or that tests theenergies of the hunter and his dogs so much 
as Grouse shoo ting, for it occurs during that season when ihe 
sun is yet in its full power, (September and beginning of 
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