UPLAND SHOOTING. 
75 
as the most tangled swamps of Labrador. The whole ground 
is covered by the most beautiful carpeting of verdant moss, over 
which the light-footed Grouse walk with ease, but among which 
we sunk at every step or two up to the waist, our legs stuck in 
the mire, and our bodies squeezed beneath the dead trunks and 
branches of the trees, the minute leaves of which insinuated 
themselves between my clothes, and nearly blinded me. We 
saved our guns from injury, however, and seeing some of the 
Spruce Partridges before they perceived us, we procured seve¬ 
ral specimens. They were in beautiful plumage, but all male 
birds. It is in such places that these birds usually reside, and it 
is very seldom that they are seen in the open grounds, beyond 
the borders of their almost impenetrable retreats. On returning 
to my family, I found that another hunter had brought two fine 
females, but had foolishly neglected to bring the young ones, 
which he had caught and given to his children, who, to my great 
mortification, had already cooked them when my messenger ar¬ 
rived at his house. 
“ The Spruce Partridge, or Canada Grouse, breeds in the 
States of Maine and Massachusetts, about the middle of May? 
nearly a month earlier than at Labrador. The males pay their 
addresses to the females, by strutting before them on the ground 
or moss, in the manner of the Turkey-cock, frequently rising se¬ 
veral yards in the air, in a spiral manner, when they beat their 
wings violently against their body, thereby producing a drum¬ 
ming noise, clearer than that of the Ruffed Grouse, and which 
can be heard at a considerable distance. The female places her 
nest beneath the low horizontal branches of fir-trees, taking 
care to conceal it well. It consists of a bed of twigs, dry leaves 
and mosses, on which she deposits from eight to fourteen eggs, 
of a deep fawn color, irregularly splashed with different tints of 
brown. They raise only one brood in the season, and the young 
follow the mother as soon as they are hatched. The males 
leave the females whenever incubation has commenced, and do 
not join them again until late in autumn ; indeed, they remove 
