The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-11-27
COcK OF THE WOODS
attention Called to
the Hunting Of
Partridges.
GREAT SCARCITY OF THE BIRD.
Natter Discussed by MaSsa-
chusetts Sports
men.
GREAT SCARCITY OF THE BIRD.


,,ortsmen at Boston Thursday with
he commissioners inland fisheries
and game, has done more to call atten-
ton to the hunting of partridge and
the growing scarcity of the bird than
anvthing that has been done for years.
with the exception of the compare
lively small percentage of men who
hunt little is known of this game
bird that furnishes excellent eating for
epicurean tables
The ruffed grouse, sometimes called
partridge, "cock of the woods or
pleasant, have wide range of habitat
in the United States, no less than 26
If 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 are probably the hardest birds
in many respects of the grouse family
What they live on when the snow is
deep is a mystery to those who have
travelled in the woods where they are
found, but live they do, and apparent
~ thrive. In Illinois the law has been
changed, making the open season dur
ing the month of September only, and
this is going to make these birds more
I plentiful if the law is half way OBJ
served.
The reason FOR dis is that the fol-
iage in September is so thick in the
woods land the fuffed grouse is rarely
. found in the OPEN that hunting him
will be a very difficult matter In the
places he frequents the trees are usu-
ally 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 Srouse.
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 slightest
difficulty, and, like. the woodcock, has
the happy faculty of putting a tree
trunk between himself and the sports
man when opportunity offers
OF course they have been relentless |
" hunted. 1t 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 ruffed grouse.
The ruffed grouse is true game bird, |
wing well to the dog and giving ex- |
citing sport wherever found in num- I
hers large enough to furnish fair shoot |
r-.
Like the quail, his flesh is white, in /
elined to be q trifie dry, and very de-
Hclous eating Like the other grouse,
lney go in t1ocks, although in this state
they have become so scarce that a
single old cock or a pair of birds is
ABOUT all a man will find in walking
through the cover
Their colors are dark brown, blend
ca with gray, and with black, and they
nave a crest on top of the head The
lufTS are n Tlrpu1iTn1t Faa t,r,a Of tI,r
Dlrd appearance and are two in num-
per one on each side of the neck. They
are composed of from 20 to 80 feathers
each, and the bird takes its name from
mem. The tail is long, broad and band
ca, and when stretched out and dried
VIII make quite a unique fan
Inc ruffed grouse is about 16 to Is
!hches long, and will weigh from two
70 two and one-half or three pounds.
He is an exceedingly handsome bird
eXcelllng the pinnated grouse or prai-
RE chicken vastly in this respect. His
wings are short and rounded and
capable of surprising bursts of speed
There is no numbering awkwardness
when this bird rises as after the man
ner of the prairie chicken He springs
from the brush with the speed Of
rocket and it takes quick shooting to
get him And doubles" on ruffed
hcult things to do in shotgun shoot
ing.
They are strong birds and require to
be hard hit to be brought down, I'M
less when a stray shot breaks a wing
or hits them on the head or neck Like
other birds of the grouse family and
the quail, the ruffed grouse when
struck in the head, if not killed out
right, will tower" as it is called fly
ing straight up into the air to quite
height When hunter sees a grouse
tower" all he has to do is to watch |
where the bird falls. When he finds |
the game it will be a case of dead |
bird"
In the alder bushes and in the foot |
hills of the New Hampshire mountains. |
the birds were found in f1ocks of from
a dozen to 20 grouse The natives |
hunted them there with a eur dog and !
q shotgun or rife. The dog ran ahead /
and scared the birds up into the trees, !
barking at them vigorously after they
were freed. The grouse would not fly |
but would watch the dog. The hunter
would slip along and pot" the birds
as they sat on the limbs.
When shotgun was used the flock
would generally fly after one or two
shots, But with a small rifle a number
OF birds could be shot from one flock
ny Snootlng the under birds first, then
the scattered ones, and keeping per-
tectly quiet. 1t was a murderous way
Of getting grouse, not much better than
sharing them with "twitchups," and
gave the birds not the slightest chance
for their lives. This habit of the ruffed
grouse is well known
The drumming" of the ruffed grouse
s peculiar habit of his, and has been
the subject of more discussion and dis
Dute than almost anything else except |
the merits of dogs. The booming" of
the prairie chicken or pinnated grouse, |
IS acknowledged to be produced from
the birds throat but how the part
ridge" does his drumming is moot |
ed question: hit he does drum and
the resonant woodland roll of the tat
too is one of the striking sounds of ma
ture, as are the sonorous notes of the
bullfrogs, the basso profundo of the
Justly celebrated thunder pumper'' and
that never-to- be-forgotten moan of the
bird"
Like the quail, the ruffed grouse is
to deceit, and he is trapped
and Shared in the eastern and north
arn states particularly, in great num-
hers by the farmer boys, and by the |
market hunters. He is especially fool |
sh about snares and puts his head into |