98 
THE PINNATED GROUSE. 
ticated. While at Henderson, I purchased sixty alive, that were expressly 
caught for me within twelve miles of that village, and brought in a bag laid 
across the back of a horse. I cut the tips of their wings, and turned them 
loose in a garden and orchard about four acres in extent. Within a week 
they became tame enough to allow me to approach them yithout their being 
frightened. I supplied them with abundance of corn, and they fed besides* 
on vegetables of various kinds, This was in the month of September, and 
almost all of them were young birds. In the course of the winter they 
became so gentle as to feed from the hand of my wife, and walked about the 
garden like so many tame fowls, mingling occasionally with the domestic 
poultry. I observed that at night each individual made choice of one of the 
heaps in which a cabbage had grown, and that they invariably placed their 
breast to the wind, whatever way it happened to blow. When spring 
returned, they strutted, “ tooted,” and fought, as if in the wilds where they 
had received their birth. Many laid eggs, and a good number of young ones 
made their appearance, but the Grouse at last proved so destructive to the 
young vegetables, tearing them up by the roots, that I ordered them to be 
killed. So brave were some of the male birds, that they never flinched in 
the presence of a large Turkey Cock, and now and then they would stand 
against a dunghill cock, for a pass or two, before they would run from him. 
During very severe weather, I have known this species to roost at a con- 
siderable height on trees, but they generally prefer resting on the ground. 
I observed that for several nights in succession, many of these Grouse slept 
in a meadow not far distant from my house. This piece of ground was 
thickly covered with tall grass, and one dark night I thought of amusing 
myself by trying to catch them. I had a large seine, and took with me 
several negroes supplied with lanterns and long poles, with the latter of 
which they bore the net completely off the ground. W e entered the meadow 
in the early part of the night, although it was so dark that without a light 
one could hardly have seen an object a yard distant, and spreading out the 
leaded end of the net, carried the other end forward by means of the poles at 
the height of a few feet. I had marked before dark a place in which a great 
number of the birds had alighted, and now ordered my men to pi’oceed 
towards it. As the net passed over the first Grouse in the way, the alarmed 
bird flew directly towards the confining part of the angle, and almost at the 
same moment a great number of others arose, and, with much noise, followed 
the same direction. At a signal, the poles were laid flat on the ground, and 
we secured the prisoners, bagging some dozens. Repeating our experiment 
three times in succession, we met with equal success, but now we gave up 
the sport on account of the loud bursts of laughter from the negroes, who 
could no longer refrain. Leaving the net on the ground, we returned to the 
