UPLAND SHOOTING. 
201 
UPLAND PLOVER SHOOTING 
ITH the end of July, all that can 
properly he called shooting, as a 
genuine sport, is at an end. The 
Woodcock, as I have already stat¬ 
ed, is no longer to he found, wheth¬ 
er he he lying perdu on the moun¬ 
tain tops, or off on a wilder wing 
for the far north. The Snipe has 
not yet begun to return from his 
arctic breeding places ; the Quail 
is still busy with her eggs, or her fledging cheepers ; and the Ruffed 
Grouse, although her young are already two-thirds grown, is pro¬ 
tected by the game-laws until the first day of November. 
This last protection by the way, is as absurd in point of fact, 
as everything connected with the game laws of the States. 
All the varieties of Grouse are early breeders; their young 
come rapidly to maturity; when full-grown they are as wild as 
hawks ; and at all times, from their own habits, and the peculi¬ 
arity of the ground on which they reside, they take better care 
of themselves, than any other species of winged game. The 
breeding season of these birds commences in May; early in 
June the young birds can fly ; and by the middle of September 
they are full-grown. There is this peculiarity about them, 
moreover, that they do not, as all other birds of this order, 
rasores, with which I am acquainted, keep together in broods or 
coveys until the commencement of the next breeding season ; 
but separate altogether, and ramble about either as single indi¬ 
viduals, or in small parties, during the autumn and winter. 
