53 
FRANK FORESTER’S FIELD SPORTS. 
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 dis¬ 
covered by the hunters, and a fatal discovery it has been for 
poor Grouse. 
u c The destroyers construct for themselves lurking-holes made 
of pine branches, called bough-houses , within a few yards of the 
parade, and hither they repair with their fowling-pieces, in the 
latter part of the night, and wait the appearance of the birds. 
Waiting 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 an ex¬ 
tent, 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 neighboring trees, in 
stead of alighting at the scratching-place ; and it remains to be 
observed how far the restless and tormenting spirit of the marks¬ 
man may alter the nature and habits of the Grouse, and oblige 
them 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 whole pack, without making any of them take wing. 
In like manner, the men lying in concealment near the scratch- 
ing-places, have been known to discharge several guns before 
either the report of the explosion or the sight of their wounded 
or dead fellows would rouse them to flight. It has been farther 
remarked that when a company of sportsmen have surrounded a 
pack of Grouse, the birds seldom or never rise upon their pin¬ 
ions while they are encircled ; but each runs along until it 
passes the person that is nearest, and then flutters off with the 
