PINNATED GPtOUSE. 
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insult, and utter notes of defiance. These are the signals for 
battles. They engage with wonderful spirit and fierceness. 
During these contests, they leap a foot or two from the ground, 
and utter a cackling, screaming, and discordant cry. 
££ They have been found in these places of resort even 
earlier than the appearance of light in the East. This fact 
has led to the belief that a part of them assemble over night. 
The rest join them in the morning. This leads to the farther 
belief that they roost on the ground. And the opinion is 
confirmed by the discovery of little rings of dung, apparently 
deposited by a flock which had passed the night together. 
After the appearance of the sun they disperse. 
££ These places of exhibition have been often discovered by 
the hunters ; and a fatal discovery it has been for the poor 
Grouse. Their destroyers construct for themselves lurking 
holes made of pine branches, called bough houses , within a 
few yards of the parade. Hither they repair with their 
fowling-pieces, in the latter part of the night, and wait the 
appearance of the birds. Watching the moment when two 
are proudly eyeing each other, or engaged in battle, or when 
a greater number can be seen in a range, they pour on them 
a destructive charge of shot. This annoyance has been given 
in so many places, and to such extent, that the Grouse, after 
having been repeatedly disturbed, are afraid to assemble. On 
approaching the spot to which their instinct prompts them, 
they perch on the neighbouring trees, instead of alighting at 
the scratching place. And it remains to be observed, how far 
the restless and tormenting spirit of the marksmen may alter 
the native habits of the Grouse, and oblige them to betake 
themselves to new ways of life. 
££ They commonly keep together in coveys, or packs, as 
the phrase is, until the pairing season. A full pack consists, 
of course, of ten or a dozen. Two packs have been known 
to associate. I lately heard of one whose number amounted 
to twenty-two. They are so unapt to be startled, that a 
hunter, assisted by a dog, has been able to shoot almost a 
