PINNATED GROUSE. 
393 
Suffolk. Its breadth is not more than six or seven. For, 
although the island is bounded by the Sound, separating it 
from Connecticut on the north, and by the Atlantic Ocean on 
the south, there is a margin of several miles, on each side, in 
the actual possession of human beings. 
66 The region in which these birds reside, lies mostly within 
the towns of Oysterbay, Huntington, Islip, Smithtown, and 
Brookhaven ; though it would be incorrect to say, that they 
were not to be met with sometimes in Riverhead and South- 
ampton. Their territory has been defined by some sportsmen, 
as situated between Hampstead Plain on the west, and 
Shinnecock Plain on the east. 
66 The more popular name for them is Heath-hens. By 
this they are designated in the act of our legislature for the 
preservation of them and of other game. I well remember 
the passing of this law. The bill was introduced by Cornelius 
J. Bogert, Esq. a member of the Assembly from the city of 
New York. It was in the month of February, 1791, the 
year when, as a representative from my native county of 
Queens, I sat, for the first time, in a legislature. 
“ The statute declares, among other things, that the person 
who shall kill any Heath-hen within the counties of Suffolk 
or Queens, between the 1st day of April and the 5th day of 
October, shall, for every such offence, forfeit and pay the sum 
of two dollars and a half, to be recovered, with costs of suit, 
by any person who shall prosecute for the same, before any 
justice of the peace, in either of the said counties ; the one 
half to be paid to the plaintiff, and the other half to the 
overseers of the poor ; and if any Heath-hen, so killed, shall 
be found in the possession of any person, he shall be deemed 
guilty of the offence, and suffer the penalty. But it is 
provided, that no defendant shall be convicted, unless the 
action shall be brought within three months after the violation 
of the law.* 
* The Doctor has probably forgotten a circumstance of lather a ludicrous 
kind, that occurred at the passing of this law, and which was, not long ago. 
