$40 
FRANK FORESTER’S FIELD SPORTS. 
RUFFED GROUSE SHOOTING, 
V U L G O ,-PARTRIDGE SHOOTING. 
I 
T was my misfortune once— 
once only, gentle reader—in my 
life, to be seduced into underta¬ 
king an excursion very late in 
the season, a few days only be¬ 
fore Chiistmas, into the interior 
of Connecticut, for the especial 
purpose of shooting the Ruffed 
Grouse, or as it is there termed, Partridge. 
I went on the representation of a friend, who while Cock¬ 
shooting on that ground, early in the autumn, before the leaves 
were down, had moved an immense number of these birds, 
which were then in broods with the old hen. He assured me, 
as he fully expected would prove the case, that we should cer¬ 
tainly get twenty or thirty fair shots each, daily; and in 
consequence I looked for great sport. 
The result was, that, although we had two brace of as good 
betters as any in the country, and fagged steadily and resolute¬ 
ly during four successive days, we bagged seven birds between 
us; two only over points; and certainly did not fire altogether, 
at snap shots and long range, above ten or eleven shots. On 
other occasions, once or twice, I have been persuaded, contrary 
to my opinion, to go out of my way to beat for Ruffed Grouse, 
or to devote a day to their especial pursuit, but I never in any 
one case have been successful. 
