UPLAND SHOOTING. 
241 
The Ruffed Grouse, after the broods have separated and left 
the hens, are the wildest and most wary birds I have ever pur¬ 
sued, when the woody nature of the haunts which they affect 
is taken into consideration. They have also the most rambling 
habit of any American game-bird, except the Turkey; it not 
being an uncommon thing for the single birds, or the small 
companies into which they sometimes form themselves, to 
wander on the foot, without taking wing at all, ten or twelve 
miles, at a stretch, over rough hills and through deep wood¬ 
lands. Add to this, that their favorite resorts are the steep 
ledgy sides of rocky hills, covered with thick wood, and that 
generally of evergreens, as pine, hemlock, or red cedar, with 
an undergrowth of the great mountain rhododendron, com¬ 
monly known as laurel. It is the characteristic of this sort 
of woodland, that, while the foliage is very thick and intricate 
above, on a level with the breast and eyes of the sportsman, it 
is for the most part perfectly open and clear below; so that 
while the hunter has the greatest difficulty in seeing his birds, 
the birds have none whatever in seeing him or his dogs. They 
consequently start on the full run—and he who has tried to 
secure one when wing-tipped or slightly wounded, without the 
aid of dog, knows what pace that is—the moment the sports¬ 
man enters the wood; and after keeping the dogs trailing and 
roading on their scent for a mile or two, either flap up unper¬ 
ceived into a tree, or take wing at a hundred yards’ distance ; 
and in either case get away unshot at. On this account, they 
are the most trying bird to the temper of a dog that possibly 
can be imagined, as it is comparatively speaking of very rare 
occurrence that they will lie to be pointed, and flushed over 
the point. 
The exception to this rule is where they are found, which is 
rarely the case, in low, swampy thickets of heavy covert, in 
level country. In such places, if you have the luck to find 
them, you are almost certain of great sport; for, where the 
ground is thick and tangled at the bottom, they will squat, 
