Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-03-06
Rare American Grouse.

was eXecrable, and after short walk | |
turned in rs hungry rs W hen | arrived |
Rare American Grouse.
New York Timcs.1
Graves Hartley Dalrymple of Canada, |
who has been for some years collecting
specimens of American birds for the Ornl-
theological collection of his brother, Prof. |
DalrymDle of Glasgow, an enthusiastic
Scotch naturalist forwarded to him last
week ii beautifully mounted specimen OF
male and female of probably the arcst
of all American game brds-the spruce
partridge. The habitat of this species of
birds is almost inaccessible, owing to the
swamps that abound among the northern
Rocky mountains. The specimens We're
sent in the care of Il friend of Prof. Dial
rymple, who sailed for Glasgow in the
State line steamer State of Pennsylvania
last Thursday.
1T is doubtful said Mr.. Dalrymple
IF there is another OrnithOlgical collection
in existence which has in it Il specimen of
this variety of the American grouse, and
am sure that there are very few sports
men who ever had the pleasure of shoot
Ing at one, much less of seeing one. |
spent three seasons in the upper Rockies
before | secured my specimens The
Rocky mountain spruce partridge Is a va
riety of the Canada grouse, or black
grouse, of the dense SWampS OF that COlln-
v.
Maine and the turtheSt AdirOndaCkS. The
black grouse, although quite numerous in
its haunts. is itself rarely hunted by plea
sure spOrtsmen. The reason for this is
that the bottoms of the swamps in which
it lives are so soft and miry that the hun
ter can not make his way into them dur
ing the hunting season. When the
swamps are frozen in the winter local pot
hunters run the risk of penetrating them,
and frequently are rewarded by good bags
of the game. The sport is attended with
danger, even on the frozen bottoms, for
there are many treacherous spring holes
in the mire which do not freeze and into
which hunters not infrequently founder
to be rescued only with great difficulty
and danger to their comrades. COnse-
quently. even the devil-may-Care guides
and hunters of those regions never seek
the black grouse alone. | myself had a
narrow escape last winter from miring
over my depth in one of those sink -hOleS
in Descealle's swamp, near the head
waters Of II branch of the Connecticut
river on the Canada side. 1t was in that
swamp that | secured specimens of the
black grouse, and, but fOrmy luNty guide,
Jean Le Clcrc, would not be here tell
ing of it now, but would have been en-
quilted 10y don't know how many feet Of
mari and bOttOmlcSS vegetable matter.
These grouse, being visited SO rarely by
. man, exhibit no alarm or concern at his
presence, but continue 1eculnG on the
spruce and tamalack buds, which are
their chief diet, while he stands within
tive feet of them in full view. In fact,
they seem to nave no fear of anything
/ except hawks and owls, which are the only
enemies that can reach their retreat ut amy
and all seasons. The plumage OF the
spruce partridge is almost black on the
back tieckcd with white on the belly,
while broad band Hl dark orange extends
along the tips OF Its long tail feathers.
The spruce partridge Of the Rockies does
not have the yellow hand on the tail II the
swamps where the Canada grouse makes
its home are dense and inaccessible, !
don't know what to say the retreats of the
other spruce partridgeS are. After visit
ing three different localities in rs many
different years and failing To lind any OF
the natives who had ever seen one of the
birds was after, finally, last month,
found a half breed at Fort Pembina who
knew where could lind some He took
me To swamp % miles west OF the tort,
1t was simply Il ChCrdUr dt trjNC of iir,
! spruce, and tamaraCk branches and laurel
vines and roots. The bottom was com
paratively hard, and the guide told me it
was never entirely thaWed out. We cut
our way with axes tora quarter of a mile
into the swamp, and built buugh-hou>e
in the depths. The Indian said he had
shot but one spruce partridge in his life,
and that was IN TINS same swamp, where
he had made his way To set traps tor bean
some years ago, when bear skins COM
manded II very high price. and the usual
haunts of the animals had been pretty gen
orally Trimmed out. He said that our only
chance of getting specimens was to lie
in wait until they allghted III some of the
trees near us to feed on the buds. We
waited until late in the afternoon, shell
tered by our bough-house, before we saw
any sign of our game. Then fortune ia
vored US. Just as it was growing dusk Il
halfdoAen large birds dropped, one after
another into spruce tree % yards away
from us. The sound of their wings left
no doubt that they were grouse. W,
each selected IA bird and fired Not only