The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-10-16
THE WAYS OF CARTRIDGES
4 IRUE G.fIE BIRD THlI Us FOUND THRO OUGHOUT NORTHERN STATES.
VariousIy Known as Ruffled Grouse, Cock of the Woods, and Phensnnt- How Hunted in Various Regions.

How Hunted in Various Regions.
 The ruflied grouse, sometimes called
 partridge, "cock of the woods" or
 pheasant, have wide range of habitat
 .il the United States, no less than twen-
 ty-six of the States mentioning them
 1n their game laws. They range from
 Maine on the north to Dakota on the
 west, south to Virginia, and are i'll most
 of the central and northern central
 States. They are probably the hardl-
 est birds in many respects of the grouse
 family l have never heard of one of
 them being frozen, however severe the
 winter, and have been out hunting when
 traces of their scratching would be
 found which indicated that they were
 digging down over foot in the snow to
 set at buried rosebuds or the roots of
 willows. What they live on when the
 snow is deep is mystery to those who
 have travelled in the woods where they
 are found, but live they do, and appar-
 ently thrive. In Illinois the law has
 been changed, making the open seasons
 during the month of September only,
 and this is going to make these birds
 more plentiful if the law is half way
 observed.
 The reason for this is that the foliage
 in September is so thick in the woods
 (and the ruffied grouse is rarely found
 in the open) that hunting him will be
 very difficult matter In the places
 he frequents the trees are usually close
 enough together to make practically
 sheet of leaves during the time he may
 be shot, And no bird in the timber
 iS or1o to 1r,,, |,
 ruffied grouse. His flight is very swift,
 strong and hard to stop as he whizzes through the woods. He seems to be able to get past the trees without the
 slightst difficulty, and like the wood
 cock, has the happy faculty of putting
 tree trunk between himself and the
 sportsman when opportunity offers.
 Of course they have been relentlessly
 hunted, but so have the prairie chick ems. It is not because they have been frozen out by the severe winters, for the very Indians themselves have no more endurance and stoicism than the ruffied grouse. The woods are here yet. and to great extent the chance for getting a living is just as good, but many thousands of acres of timber land near the railroads running to the north west are almost entirely deserted by the birds It may be that the gradual destruction of the underbrush and the cleaning up of the woods by the habit of making them pasture ground has made the birds leave. At any rate, they have gone where twenty years ago they were found in fairly plentiful numbers Restocking these woods
 might be the means of affording oc- casional shooting, but where the timber has been denuded of the brush the ruff fled grouse will not stay in any num- bers. They are found in tamarack swamps, around the lakes in the hilly portions of Illinois and in the woods | along the streams and rivers of the | northern part of the State.
 The ruffled rouse is true game bird | lying well to the dog and giving ex- citing sport where-ever found in num- bers large enough to furnish fair shoot ing. In Michigan, which is a good | grouse State, he is often found in the | same country with the quail, and the hunters there often get them when hunting for the latter bird In Illinois, on the contrary, the quail have nearly all disappeared in the grouse country, the cold winters having frozen them out or driven them to more temperate ! portions of the country In Indiana 1 also the ruffled grouse is found with the "bob white," and, generally speak ing, country which is good for quail cannot support the other bird Like the quail his flesh is white, inclined to be a trifie dry, and very delicious eat ing. Like the other grouse they go in fiocks, although in Illinois they have become so scarce that single old cock or a pair of birds is about all a man will find in walking through the aver age neck of woods.
 Their colors are dark brown, blend ed with gray and with black, and they have crest on top of the head. The ruffs are a prominent feature of the | birds appearance, and are two in num- Der, one on each side of the neck. They are composed of from twenty to thirty | feathers each and the bird takes it's name from them. The tail is long, l broad and banded, and when stretched l,- out and dried will make quite 8 unique l fan. The ruffied grouse is about six teen to eighteen inches long, and will l I weigh from two to two and one-half l or three pounds. He is an exceedingly handsome bird. excelling the pinnated grouse or prairie chicken vastly in this i respect. His wings are short and round- f ed and capable of surprising bursts of , speed. There Is no numbering awk- f wardness when this bird rises as after s the manner of the prairie chicken. He [ springs from the brush with speed of f rocket and 1t takes quick shooting to s get him. And doubles" on ruffied f grouse in thick cover are the most , difficult things to do in shotgun shoot z ing. They are strong birds and require l to be hard hit to be brought down, un- z less when a stray shot breaks a wing f or hits them on the head or neck. Like f other birds of the grouse family and f the quail, the ruff1ed grouse when struck 1 I In the head if not killed outright, will F tower" as it is called, flying straight lp into the air to quite height. When a , hunter sees a grouse tower" all he l f 1as to do is to watch where the bird f 'alls. When he finds the game it will T ,e a case of "dead'' bird" Tn the alder bushes and in the foot S nils of the New Hampshire mountains Il have found the birds in flocks of from \, dozen to twenty grouse. The natives F ,upto5 them thera with a cI1r d0o and l