74 
" THE RUFFED GROUSE. 
linger in the woods close by for a week or a fortnight, as if fearful of 
encountering the danger to be incurred in crossing the stream. This usually 
happens in the beginning of October, when these birds are in the very best 
order for the table, and at this period great numbers of them are killed. If 
started from the ground, with or without the assistance of a dog, they 
immediately alight on the nearest trees, and are easily shot. At length, 
however, they resolve upon crossing the river ; and this they accomplish 
with so much ease, that I never saw any of them drop into the water. Not 
more than two or three days elapse after they have reached the opposite 
shore, when they at once proceed to the interior of the forests, in search of 
places congenial to the general character of their habits. They now resume 
their ordinary manner of living, which they continue until the approach of 
spring, when the males, as if leading the way, proceed singly towards the 
country from which they had retreated. The females follow in small parties 
of three or four. In the month of October, 1820, 1 observed a larger num- 
ber of Rulfed Grouse migrating thus from the States of Ohio, Illinois, and 
Indiana into Kentucky, than I had ever before remarked. During the 
short period of their lingering along the north-west shore of the Ohio that 
season, a great number of them were killed, and they were sold in the 
* Cincinnati market for so small a sum as 12i cents each. 
Although these birds are particularly attached to the craggy sides of 
mountains and hills, and the rocky borders of rivers and small streams, 
thickly mantled with evergreen trees and small shrubs of the same nature, 
they at times remove to low lands, and even enter the thickest cane-brakes, 
where they also sometimes breed. I have shot some, and have heard them 
drumming in such places, where there were no hills nearer than fifteen or 
twenty miles. The lower parts of the State of Indiana and also those of 
Kentucky, are amongst the places where I have discovered them in such 
situations. 
The charming groves which here and there contrast so beautifully with 
the general dull appearance of those parts of Kentucky and Tennessee, to 
which the name of Barrens is given, are sought by the Rulfed Grouse. 
These groves alford them abundant food and security. The gentle coolness 
that prevails in them during the summer heat is agreeable and beneficial to 
these birds, and the closeness of their undergrowth in other spots moderates 
the cold blasts of winter. There this species breeds, and is at all times to 
be found. Their drumming is to be heard issuing from these peaceful 
retreats in early spring, at the same time that the booming of their relative, 
the Pinnated Grouse, is recognised, as it reaches the ear of the traveller, from 
the different parts of the more open country around. In such places as the 
groves just mentioned, the species now before you, kind reader, is to be met 
