THE PINNATED GROUSE. 
101 
David -Eckley, Esq., residing at Boston, who is in the habit of shooting 
them annually. 
“ Dear Sir, — I have the pleasure of sending you a brace of Grouse from 
Martha’s Vineyard, one of the Elizabeth Islands, which fon many years past 
I have been accustomed to visit annually, for the purpose of enjoying the 
sport of shooting these fine birds. Nashawenna is the only other island of 
the group on which they are found. This, however, is a sort of preserve, 
as the island being small and the birds few, strangers are not permitted to 
shoot without the consent of the owners of the soil. It would be difficult to 
assign a reason why they are found upon the islands above named, and not 
upon others, particularly Nashuan, which, being large, well wooded, and 
abounding in feed, seems quite as favourable to the peculiar habits of the 
birds. 
“ Fifteen or twenty years ago, I know from my own experience, it was a 
common thing to see as many birds in a day as we now see in a week ; but 
whilst they have grown scarcer, our knowledge of the ground has become 
more extended, so that the result of a few weeks’ residence of a party of 
three, with which I usually take the field, is ten brace of birds. Packs of 
twenty to fifty are now no longer seen, and the numbers have so diminished, 
in consequence of a more general knowledge of their value, the price in 
Boston market being five dollars per brace, that we rarely see of late more 
than ten or twelve collected together. It is often observed, however, that 
there is very little encouragement to be derived from the circumstance of 
falling in with a large number, and that the greater the pack, the more likely 
they are to elude the vigilance of the sportsman ; though it must be acknow- 
ledged that it is a most exhilarating yet’ tantalizing sight, to start a large 
pack out of gunshot, to watch them as their wings glisten in the sun, 
alternately sailing, fluttering, and skimming over the undulating ground, 
apparently just about alighting, but exerting their strength and fluttering on 
once more, some old stager of the pack leading them beyond an intervening 
swell, out of harm’s way, beyond which all is conjecture as to the extent or 
the direction of their flight. In such a case, it is best to follow on as quick 
and as straight as possible, keeping the eye fixed upon the tree or bush, 
which served to mark them, and after having proceeded a reasonable distance 
in the direction which they have flown, if a ‘ clear’ or ‘ cutting place’ 
should lie in the course, the birds may be confidently expected to have 
alighted there. They never in fact settle down where the woods are thick, 
or the bushes close and tangled, but invariably in some open space, and often 
in the roads ; neither do they start from thick foliage or briary places, but 
seek at once to disengage themselves from all embarrassment to their flight, 
by attaining the nearest open space, thus offering to the sportsman the 
Vol. V. 14 
