Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1892-01-14
HUNTING RuEEtp GROUSE.
A Bird of Peculiar Ways--Taxlng tn
Markmans Skill.

Bird of Peculiar Ways-Taxlng tho
Markman's Skill.
The flight of the ruffcd grouse or
partridge is sometime SO peculiar and
varied that there seems to be as much
difference in individuals land perhaps
with these same individuals at differ
ent times and under different circum-
stances), as there is in the gait OF cer-
tain animals.
If, in thick clover, we happen to sud-
denly come upon bird we see II for
moment before 1t flies 1t seldom al.
lows us to watch its movements long,
however il the bird is upon the ground.
Almost as soon as discovered the bird
makes movement to get out of our
sight, but when this movement is first
made, who can tell what is coming
next? 1t may take two or three short
flaps with its wings and ''scoot" not
more than two or three feet from the
ground, through the underbrush for
thirty or forty yards, then drop and
sneak away as silently as the fall of
night Again, it may hop up into the
air, spread its wings and sail into the
lower limbs of some tree thirty or forty
feet away, alighting near the trunk
and standing there as motionless as
statue. have seen them start in this
noiseless manner and sail out Of the un.
derbrush on a ridge, then take turn
and fly away into the valley below,
some three hundred yards, and had
not been looking at the bird should
not have known that 1t started. This
is often their mode Of procedure when
they are little disturbed, or rs have
sometimes thought when the weather
was favorable for this kind of flight.
have noticed this more when there was
little or no wind, or when the woods
were quieter than at other times, and
have often seen them sail out of the un-
derbrush in this noiseless manner, on
| the crest of wooden hill, set their
pinions and sail with hardly flap of
the wings, away down to the bottom
and alight in a pine or other evergreen
| tree.
But let us go over the ground again
tomorrow and note the result The
bird is seen running along the ground,
perhaps in an old wood road 1t runs
for ten or twelve feet and then breaks
away with a roar, leaving cloud of
leaves behind it that would almost
blind one, were he in their midst The
bird continues it's mad career slaps
and tears through the twigs and
branches for fifty or sixty yards, and
alights upon the ground again. A great
deal of noise and fuss has been made,
but the bird really seems to be less
alarmed than before, and nine times
out of every ten have found it an cas-
Ter task to find the bird than when it
sneaked away so quietly. have found,
as rule, that the old cocks make a
great deal more fuss and racket in their
fight than the hens; they seem to take
fixed course and keep it, while the
hen may double upon her fight two or
three times before she alights, and then
probably go into tree, while the old
cock seems to think the ground good
enough for him. Their flight is apt to
be longer late in the season unless COW
er is found at once, as in pine or hem
lock swamps, and if snow is on the
ground the bird is apt to tree.
Their habit of fight differs somewhat
in different localities, and have known
persons that were expert in hunting
and finding them in the southern part
of New England to find themselves sail
at sea" when they tried it in the north.
Their food supply is the one thing to
study in the morning and evening and
is considerably varied When we kill
one and find the crop filled with grapes
and thorn apples we do not look for
them upon the hardwood ridges, but if
we ind their CIR, 20 full of beech nuts
we expect to find the bird on high
ground in the latter part Of the
day. When about to choose its
roosting place for the night the bird
is apt to make long flight, and then a
short one to its perch, which may be in
low pine, not more than six feet from
the ground, or may be near the top of a
small hemlock or spruce, many feet
| away iIOih thc cdrbh uSloW' Nuhc i
have made many observations on the
fight of this bird, ] have found moth.
ing that could be put down as an ''jron.
clad" fixed rule and their habits vary
so in different localities that it is some.
what difficult to tell what bird is go.
ing to do even after it has its figh,
we'll started II alarmed we seldom
know where to look for it unless mark
ed down; but If not, an idea may be
correctly drawn regarding its flight, il
one is familiar with the ground Chi
cago Press