the Ohio in parties of eight or ten, now and then of twelve or fifteen,
and, on arriving there, linger in the woods close by for a week or a fortnight,
as if fearful of encountering the danger to be incurred in crossing
the stream. This usually happens in the beginning of October, when
these birds are in the very best order for the table, and at this period
great numbers of them are killed. If started from the ground, with or
without the assistance of a dog, they immediately alight on the nearest
trees, and are easily shot. At length, however, they resolve upon crossing
the river; and this they accomplish with so much ease, that I never
saw any of them drop into the water. Not more than two or three days
elapse after they have reached the opposite shore, when they at once proceed
to the interior of the forests, in search of places congenial to the
general character of their habits. They now resume their ordinary manner
of living, which they continue until the approach of spring, when
the males, as if leading the way, proceed singly towards the country from
which they had retreated. The females follow in small parties of three
or four. In the month of October 1820, I observed a larger number of
Ruffed Grouse migrating thus from the States of Ohio, Illinois and Indiana
into Kentucky, than I had ever before remarked. During the
short period of their lingering along the north-west shore of the Ohio
that season, a great number of them was killed, and they were sold in
the Cincinnati market for so small a sum as 12^ cents each.
Although these birds are particularly attached to the craggy sides of
mountains and hills, and the rocky borders of rivers and small streams,
thickly mantled with evergreen trees and small shrubs of the same nature,
they at times remove to low lands, and even enter the thickest cane-brakes,
where they also sometimes breed. I have shot some, and have heard them
drumming in such places, when there were no hills nearer than fifteen or
twenty miles. The lower parts of the State of Indiana and also those of
Kentucky, are amongst the places where I have discovered them in such
situations.
The charming groves which here and there contrast so beautifully
with the general dull appearance of those parts of Kentucky and Tennessee,
to which the name of Barrens is given, are sought by the Ruffed
Grouse. These groves afford them abundant food and security. The
gentle coolness that prevails in them during the summer heat is agreeable
and beneficial to these birds, and the closeness of their undergrowth in
other spots moderates the cold blasts of winter. There this species breeds,
and is at all times to be found. Their drumming is to be heard issuing
from these peaceful retreats in early spring, at the same time that the
booming of their relative, the Finnated Grouse, is recognised, as it readies
the ear of the traveller, from the different parts of the more open country
around. In such places as the groves just mentioned, the species now before
you, kind reader, is to be met with, as you travel towards the south,
through the whole of Tennessee and the Choctaw Territory ; but as you
approach the city of Natchez they disappear, nor have I ever heard of
one of these birds having been seen in the State of Louisiana.
The mountainous parts of the Middle States being more usually the
chosen residence of this species, I shall, with your permission, kind reader,
return to them, and try to give you an account of this valuable Grouse.
The flight of the Ruffed Grouse is straight-forward, rather low, unless
when the bird has been disturbed, and seldom protracted beyond a
few hundred yards at a time. It is also stiff, and performed with a continued
beating of the wings for more than half its duration, after which
the bird sails and seems to balance its body as it proceeds through the air,
in the manner of a vessel sailing right before the wind. When this bird
rises from the ground at a time when pursued by an enemy, or tracked
by a dog, it produces a loud whirring sound, resembling that of the whole
tribe, excepting the Black Cock of Europe, which has less of it than any
other species. This whirring sound is never heard when the Grouse rises
of its own accord, for the purpose of removing from one place to another;
nor, in similar circumstances, is it commonly produced by our little Partridge.
In fact, I do not believe that it is emitted by any species of Grouse,
unless when surprised and forced to rise. I have often been lying on the
ground in the woods or the fields for hours at a time, for the express purpose
of observing the movements and habits of different birds, and have
frequently seen a Partridge or a Grouse rise on wing from within a few
yards of the spot in which I lay unobserved by them, as gently and softly
as any other bird, and without producing any whirring sound. Nor even
when this Grouse ascends to the top of a tree, docs it make any greater
noise than other birds of the same size would do.
I have said this much respecting the flight of Grouse, because it is a
prevalent opinion, both among sportsmen and naturalists, that the whirring
sound produced by birds of that genus, is a necessary effect of their
usual mode of flight. But that this is an error, I have abundantly satisfied
myself by numberless observations.