78 
FRANK FORESTER’S FIELD SPORTS. 
“ Their food consists of berries of different sorts, and the young 
twigs and blossoms of several species of plants. In the summer 
and autumn, I have often found them gorged with berries of the 
plant which is commonly called 4 Solomon’s seal.’ In the 
winter I have seen the crop filled with the short leaves of the 
larch or hackmetack. # 
“ I have frequently heard it said that these birds could be 
knocked down with sticks, or that a whole covey could be shot, 
while perched on trees, by beginning at the lowest one; but I 
never witnessed anything of the kind, and cannot therefore 
vouch for the truth of the assertion. During the autumn of 
1833, these birds were uncommonly plentiful in the State of 
Maine. My friend Edward Harris, of New York, Thomas 
Lincoln, and others, killed a great number ; and the latter gen¬ 
tleman procured a pair alive, which were fed on oats and did 
well. 
“ The flesh of this Grouse is dark, and fit for being eaten 
only when it has fed on berries. In winter, when it feeds on 
the leaves of trees and other plants, the flesh is quite bitter and 
disagreeable. 
“According to Dr. Richardson, all the thick and swampy 
black spruce forests between Canada and the Arctic ocean 
abound with this bird, and considerable numbers exist, in the 
severest seasons, as high as the 67th parallel. I am informed 
by Mr. Townsend that it is also plentiful on the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains and the plains of the Columbia, from which parts I have 
obtained specimens differing in nothing from others procured in 
Maine and Labrador. I have also compared those in the Edin¬ 
burgh Museum, which Mr. Douglass was pleased to name 
Franklin’s Grouse, with several of my own, and feel confident 
that they are all of one and the same species.” 
From this vivid and life-like description of this beautiful little 
Grouse, its habits, food, motions, and the districts which it 
inhabits, it will be evident to all that it cannot be denied a place 
among the Upland game of the United States and British Pro- 
