116 
WILLOW GROUSE. 
mud, and so fatigued, that when we returned, we found it impossible to 
proceed more than a few yards before we were forced to sit down on the 
dangerous sward, which at every step shook for a considerable space around, 
so that we were obliged to keep at a distance from each other, and move 
many yards apart, constantly fearing that the least increase of weight would 
have burst the thin layer, that supported us, and sent us into a depth from 
which we could not have been extricated. But once out of the bog, we 
were delighted with the success of our enterprise, and as we refreshed our- 
selves from our scanty stores, when we had reached the rocky shores of the 
sea, we laughed heartily at what had happened, although only a few hours 
before it was considered a most serious accident. 
As I am speaking of fowling in Labrador, allow me to relate an incident 
connected with the Willow Grouse. Among our crew was a sailor, who 
was somewhat of a wag. He was a “ man-of-war’s-man,” and had seen a 
good deal of service in our navy, an expert sailor, perhaps the best diver I 
have seen, always willing to work hard, and always full of fun. This sailor 
and another had the rowing of our gig on an excursion after Grouse and 
other wild birds. Thomas Lincoln and my son John Woodhouse man- 
aged the boat. The gig having landed on the main, the sailors, who had 
guns, went one way, and the young travellers another. They all returned, 
as was previously agreed upon, at the same hour, and produced the birds 
which they had procured. The sailors had none, and were laughed at. While 
rowing towards the Ripley, we heard the cries of birds as if in the air ; the 
rowing ceased, but nothing could be seen, and we proceeded. Again the 
sounds of birds were distinctly heard, but again none could be seen, and 
what seemed strange was, that they were heard only at each pull of the oars. 
The young men taxed the tar with producing the noises, as they saw him as 
if employed in doing so with his mouth ; however, the thing still remained 
a mystery. Some time after we had got on board, the provision basket was 
called for, and was produced by Master Bill, who, grinning from ear to ear, 
drew out of it two fine old Grouse, and a whole covey of young ones, in all 
the exultation of one who had outwitted what he called his betters. 
While at the harbour of Bras d’Or, I was told by persons who had resided 
in the country for many years, that, during the winter, when the snow 
covers the ground, and the Grouse are obliged to scratch through it, in order 
to get at the mosses and lichens, they are so abundant that a hundred or 
more can be shot in a day, and congregate in flocks of immense numbers, 
now and then mixed Avith the smaller species, called there the Rock Grouse, 
( Lagopus rupestris.) Their flesh is then salted for summer use. At that 
season they are of a pure white, except the tail, which retains its jetty black- 
ness. I was further informed that their flesh is then dry, and not to be 
