Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-10-23
THE WAYS OF PARTRIDGES
A True Game Bird That is Found in MANY
States
Earfously Known as Ruled Grouse,
Mystery of His Drumming.
q
From the Chicago Record.


States. no less than twenty-six of the
states mentioning them in their game laws.
They range from Maine on the north to
Dakota on the west, south to Virginia, and
are in most of the central and northern
central states. They probably the
hardest birds in many respects of the
grouse family. l have never heard of one
or them being frozen, however severe the
winter, and have been out hunting when
traces OF their scratching would be found
winch indicated that they were digging
down ever foot in the snow to get at
buried rosebudS or the roots of Willows.
What they live on when the snow is deep
is a mystery to those who have travelled in
the woods where they found. but live
they do, and apparently thrive. In Illinois
the law has been changed. making the
open season during the month of September
only, and this is going to make these birds
more plentiful if the law is half way OBJ
served.
The reason for this is that the foliage in
September is so thick in the woods (and the
rrffed grouse is rarely found in the open)
that hunting him will be a very difficult
matter. In the places he frequents the
tees are usually close enough together to
make practically a sheet of leaves during
the time he may be shot. And no bird in
the timber is harder to bring down than
this same ruffed grouse. His flight is very
swift. strong and hard to stop as he
WhtzzeS through the woods. He seems to
be able to get past the trees without the
slightest difficulty, and. like the woodcock,
has the happy faculty of putting a tree
trunk between himself and the sportsman
when opportunity offers
Of course they have been relentlessly hunt
go out so have the prairie chickens. 1t is not
because they have been frozen out by the
severe winters, for the very Indians them
selves have no more endurance and stoi-
clsm than the ruffed grouse. The woods
are mere yet, and to great extent the
GRANGE for getting a living is as good, but
many thousands of acres of timber land
near the railroads running to the north
vest are almost entirely deserted by the
BIRDS 1t may be that the gradual destruction
OF the underbrush and the cleaning up of
the woods by the habit of making them
pasture grounds has made the birds leave
Al any rate. they have gone where twenty
years ago they were found in fairly plenti-
full numbers. Restocking these woods
might be the means of affording occasional
shooting, but where the timber has been
denuded of the brush the ruffed grouse will
not stay in any numbers. They are found
In tamarack swamps, around the lakes
In the billy portions of Illinois and in the
woods along the streams and rivers of the
northern part of the state.
Inc runed grouse Is a true game bird.
lying well to the dog and giving exciting
sport wherever found in numbers large
enough to furnish fair shooting. In Michi-
gan, which is good grouse state, he is
often found in the same country with the
quail, and the hunters there get them when
the contrary, the quail have nearly all dis
appeared in the grouse country the cold
winters having frozen them out driven
them to more temperate portions of the
country In Indiana also the ruffed grouse
Is found with the bob white" and gener-
ally speaking, country which is good for
quail cannot support the other bird. Like
the quail, his flesh is white, inclined to be
trifle dry, and very delicious eating Like
the other grouse. they go in f1ocks, 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
average neck of woods
Their colors are dark brown, blended with
gray and with black, and they have a crest
on top of the head. The rufus are a promi-
nent feature of the birds appearance. and
are two in number, one on each side of the
neck. They are composed of from twenty to
thirty feathers each. and the bird takes its
name from them. The tail is long broad
ana banded, and when stretched out and
dried will make quite a unique fan. The
rured grouse is about sixteen to eighteen
inches long, and will weigh from two To
two and a half or three pounds He is an
exceedingly handsome bird. excelIfng the
plnnated grouse or prairie chicken vastly in
thfs respect His wings are short and
rounded and capable of surprising bursts of
speed There is no numbering awkwardness
when this bird rises. after the manner of
the prairie chicken. He springs from the
brush with the speed of a rocket and If
takes quick shooting to get him. And 'dou-
bles' on ruffed grouse in thick cover are
the most difficult things to do in shotgun
shooting. They are strong birds and re-
quire to be hard hit to be brought down
unless when a stray shot breaks a wing or
hits them on the head or neck Like other
blrds OF the grouse family and the quail
the ruffed grouse when struck in the head
If not killed outright will tower" as II is
called flying straight up into the air to
quite height. When a hunter sees
grouse tower" all he has to do is to
watch where the bird falls When he finds
the game ii Will be case of dead bird
In the alder bushes and in the foothills of
the New Hampshire mountains I have
FOUND the birds in tiocks of from dozen to
twenty grouse. The natives hunted them
there with cur dog and a shotgun or rife
The dog ran ahead and scared the birds I'm
into the trees. barking at them vigorously
after they We're freed. The grouse would
lot fly, but would watch the dog. The
hunter would slip along as soon as he
heard the dog barking and pot the birds
as they sat on the limbs. When a shotgun
was used the flock would generally fly after
one or two shots. But with small rife a
number of birds could be shot from one
flock by shooting the under birds first then
the scattered ones, and keeping perfectly
quiet. 1t was murderous way of getting
grouse. not much better than snaring them
with 'tWitchups, and gave the birds not
the slightest chance for their lives This
habit of the ruffed grouse il we'll known
The Illinois game law provides that the
pinnated and ruffed grouse must be shot
during September. and with the shotgun
But that law as to ruffed grouse is a dead
letter. In the regions where the birds are
now to be had you can find some one in the
neighboring towns of the country round
about who will get them ami not use "the
shotgun only 1t is pity, but 50 it Is
The drumming" of the ruffed grouse is a
peculiar habit of his, and has been the sub
Ject of more discussion and dispute than
almost anything else except the merits of
dogs. The booming" of the prairie chicken
or pinnated grouse Is acknowledg to be
produced from the birds throat. but how
the partridge does his drumming is A
mooted question. But he does drum" and
the resonant woodland roll of the tattoo is
one of the striking sounds of nature, as are
the sonorous notes of the bulIfrogs the
basso profundo of the justly celebrated
thunder pumper' and the never-to-be- for
gotten moan of the "kil-a-loo bird"
The hills We're brown. the heavens were blue:
\ woodpecker pounded a pine top she'll
While partridge whistled the whole day through
For rabbit to dance in the chaparral
And a gray grouse drummed: ''All's well! AIS
wellt'
Like the quail. the ruffed grouse is sus-
ceptible to deceit. and he is trapped and
shared in the eastern and northern states
particularly in great numbers by the
farmer boys and by the market hunters
He is especially foolish about snares, and
puts his head into them with a fatuous
confidence that is rapidly thinning out his
,t,are h. l.