American game-bird shooting

Front matter

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Preface

OWPULE AND MGQ@w PL ETE work on American upland shooting has as yet been written. Volumes have been published, each of which covers some section of what 1s really a large subject, but from the broader sportsman’s viewpoint no one of them is complete. Of these works, the most useful was written by the veteran naturalist and sportsman, D. G. Elliott, whose “Game Birds of North America’ deals chiefly with the natural history side of the grouse and quails, and touches only lightly on the methods by which they are pursued for sport.

It seems time now that a book should be written, covering the whole subject of upland American game-bird shooting; that is, the shooting of those birds in which the pointing dog is the assistant to the gun— the turkeys, grouse and quail, and the American woodcock and Wilson’s snipe, called also “English” and “jack” snipe, a bird of continental distribution.

Some years ago I brought together a large amount vii

PREFACE of material on duck shooting in North America, and the gratifying reception met by that volume encourages me to believe that there 1s place for a companion work, which shall appeal especially to men who tramp the uplands with gun and dog. They may perhaps welcome a book which shall deal with their favorite sport, and shall touch on it as practiced in different parts of the country.

No two men use the terms shooting and hunting in the same way, and if the question could be submitted to a general conference of sportsmen, wide differences of opinion as to what constitutes a game bird would of course be found to exist. In certain sections of the country, and among certain classes of people, bluejays and woodpeckers are regarded as legitimate objects of the gunner’s pursuit; if they are less highly esteemed than quail and prairie chicken, it is only because they weigh less.

For the purposes of this book I have considered as game birds only the species that are commonly hunted with dogs. This naturally throws out of the list many birds which offer good sport and are excellent for the table. Such are many of the plovers and beach birds, the Bartramian sandpiper, and all the rails.

In the preparation of the volume I have not hesitated to draw for information on all available sources,

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PREFACE and I have striven to bring together much material of interest to the sportsman which is now scattered through many volumes and periodicals, and is thus not easily accessible.

The plan of the book does not differ essentially from that of “American Duck Shooting.” Its first part is devoted to descriptions of the birds and their habits, the second part to the various methods employed in taking the birds and the aids to shooting—dogs, guns and ammunition; while in the third is discussed the shooting of the future.

I have received at several hands valuable assistance, which I desire here to acknowledge. Dr. A. K. Fisher, of the Biological Survey of Washington, a keen sportsman and experienced ornithologist, kindly read over the manuscript. Mr. B. Waters, distinguished as a crack shot, and especially learned in the hunting dog, is chiefly responsible for the chapters especially devoted to dog and gun. To the kindness of Mrs. Vernon Bailey and of the Houghton, Mifflin Co. I owe the excellent plates of the scaled quail and Mearns’ quail, taken from her “Handbook of Birds of the Western United States.” Messrs. Little, Brown & Company give me permission to reproduce several cuts from Baird, Brewer and Ridgway’s “North American Birds.” The Forest and Stream Publishing Company

PREFACE has allowed me to enrich the book with a wealth of illustrations not always to be had in such a volume. The colored plates of the ruffed grouse and Virginia quail, so admirably depicted by Mr. Louis Agassiz Fuertes, I use by the kind permission of the Biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture, who also let me have the excellent figures of the sage grouse and of Gambel’s quail. Dr. C. F. Hodge, of Clark Umversity, Worcester, Mass, has furnished me with a number of beautiful photographs of his ruffed grouse and bobwhites.

Sportsmen and ornithologists will find here much that is familiar, but, I hope, also something that ts new.

Gro. BirD GRINNELL.

New York, October, r9Io.

Contents

PAGE |S LR CIEE) B72 Gi bs WISNER tT ta at Re eg NEO vii J LutFO) 33 YB I jf Coe BU has I AR zs RS Pa Xvii PART I

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CONTENTS

Part II

UPLAND SHOOTING PAGE UPLAND SHOOTING 2.6 2. 2 ee Cee ee eee 303 WOODCOCK SHOOTING b.c.sccke aoe ceeaiee hee eee 305 SNIPE) ‘SHOOTING serwseisle cies Seat oa lee helene eee ee oe 319 QUAIL SHOOTING 4h.:cclenne: ciclis le eee eee 332 BOBWHITE sacs Soa on eases Secu ols Se ee Ee 332 VALLEY (QUATED 2a Se cetee sion tennis enein Goer: 350 GAMBEL’S ‘OUAIL wos e on deen sake cere le 352 MOUNTAIN (OUATL 2 Goce tebe ene Ge ee ae er 353 SCALED (OUATE. nine Se teks c Manin Oe Lee 354 MEARNS’ “OUAIU. (cic taro lncnten teed eee eee 357 SHOOTING THE WOODS GROUSE... eeeeeeeeeee 350 RUPFED }\GROUSE® aici feidic ceneere stein aes SR oe eee 359 DUSKY! GROUSE. se iic cine seven ines a hee He eee 384 ELARIWIGAN: SHOOTIN Giacccucessingnnone senor eee 302 WIELO Wi PPAR MIGAN(. cro o:5 <teicitea’s S alata seine oo ocelot 392 SHOOTING THE PRATRIE GROUSE.¢.ns teen 308 PINNATED (GROUSE. : vistscde cle oo. o6 eo aoeieea ec eee eee 309 SHARP-TATLED GROUSE.0 «ss 04 cans ea eloe ee ee eee 412 SAGE GROUSE, os.05.0.4 voen'se bc cei» ce tbiceec eel Eeeenes 416

CONTENTS

PAGE

Part III The Shooting Of The Future

PAGE RLOOKSDAGKWARD 2. Mh bike kit! Avtar MANES Ua SII TRANSPLANTING AMERICAN GAME BIRDS................... 527 DESTRUCTION AND PROTECTION.<..2/0)-2-0.00005,..00000 6. 536 ONCLUSION ne es tees Gein te cle ih eee De 555

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PART

TO FACE PAGE

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15 27

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE

Part 1

TO FACE PAGE BOBWHITE IN Potato Fietp. (Colored Plate)............. 305 ViooncocK) CROUGHING:.:. 5.5. 01s. Thais Ua ein eens Serereralehelsteleey [307 SETTER POINTING SNIPE....... WE SieYanata chaleteters PAIOSIOC OR ane 325 ONPEROIND las cisjelee alos aratacelavegieashas eicic ale alerts aeerericisioe ey Gat SHO OMMN GUNES SEA TNIE Sh cpl sale terete valsis seve term: oraterels eis raleteicreveln oars 345 SETTER POINTING, WITH BIRD IN MOUTH........... Naletelewter GOL RUFFED GROUSE Cock, REARED IN DOMESTICATION........ 377 DUSiveE GROUSE RON! DHE IVLOUNDATNS suericisiecinisiecis civic celelsicierl, S07,

SHOOTING IN Mississippi. (Painting by Edmund Osthaus). 503

PART, IIL

EUROPEAN OWADI soit cise tieieleas is 4 ele ays ae oreitvtetatrake Wiel sts AAA ace Salis asRi Dusky (GROUSE-PHEASANT:.. <4 iecesc.elsinee's ss cies eens 519 EUROPEAN PARTRIDGE... ace stole ele Siatuvavincatal Clabes cetera petals 521 DoOURE ET EVANDEDY OF) OUATE We sjesmele acre Hae vel be evotetel ey bas 537 WINTER QUARTERS OF Dr. HopGE’s QUAIL........ susthalstete 539 RUFFED GROUSE CHIcKs Just HATCHED....... Sr eae sea calcite 541 BEEDING BOBWHITE) HICKS... ...05+0.+-<- Bieta etepeteheaheienve teks 545 BOBWHITE REARED BY Dr. C. F. Hopce..... syotevertiektehentetens 547

RUFFED GROUSE FEEDING FROM HAND.).. csicciccccssescness SSE

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LINE (‘CUTS IN TEx

PAGE RANGE OF THE WOODCOCK: | (Map): .cuscciee aniline cee ig BILe, Foor, TAIL. AND WING OF BOBWHITEs. + -2o2ceeccoee en ho BIEL AND) FOOT. OF: MOUNTAIN: ©UATI pce ced cree sericiice hike enya BIELPAND) HOOT OF SCALED OUATE Ann eae Wave oe este MO? Bic AND FooT OF CALIFORNIA QUAIL... .105-> cemeuniinsc GOO Bier, Foor AND’ WING OF MEARNS’ QUAIL. secs cemeene cee 07, BiLit, Foot, Tart AnD W1NG oF Dusky GROUSE.......... 116 WAIL OF, CANADA, (GROUSE. jee ceeelececetiat ees eee eee cO ‘(AIC OF FRANKLIN'S, GROUSE! cheese ccc dee ee eee ee Briuxi, Foot, Tain anD WING OF RUFFED GROUSE.......--. 140 BILL, Foot, Tart AND WING OF WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN. 104 Bit, Foot, TaAiL AND WING OF PINNATED GROUSE..... 568 Alay) BiLt, Foot, TArL AND WING OF SHARP-TAILED GROUSE.... 252 Briiy, Foot, Par AND WING OF SAGE GROUSE..-2e6s)eeee) 273

Biti, Foot, TAIL AND WING OF WILD TURKEY............ 283

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