Ruffed Grouse Shooting
Middlesex Co., Mass. [Middlesex County, Massachusetts]
1874. Dec. 30- 1874 [December 30, 1874]
50 acre meadow the Parker Lot etc.
  Had a very fine days sport
putting up 48 grouse and
bagging 9. A tenth was shot through
the head and "towered" to a great
height falling dead within a 
hundred yds. of us but we were
utterly unable to find it though
we worked both dogs over the
ground a great many times.
We found many of our birds 
in very open ground and had
a number of good shots which were
missed. I fired 27 & Jim [James C. Melvin] 24 shots
One bird was distinctly seen
to light in a thick pine but
our utmost efforts failed to either
discern or dislodge him: he 
probably settled in some thick
clump among the branches &
conscious of his security remained
there perfectly motionless. I
hunted Shot as usual and
got a few steady points though
his nose seemed not so good
as usual. Saw a few redpolls
and a single Picus villosus.
(I forget to note under Dec. 28
a Curvirostra leucoptera and
a [female] Accipiter Cooperi [Accipiter cooperii] both of
which I saw flying over our yard
during the day.) Our bag to day
was W.B. [William Brewster] Grouse 4 (-1) J.C.M. Grouse 
3 (+2) W. Buttrick [William Buttrick] Grouse 2 (-2). After
a good dinner given by Jim, at the Middlesex,
I took the 6.34 train home.