A Bird Hunt in North Caroliyia. 



3" 



had been out of the ropm.it was safe to 

 infer that we were to have a good sup- 

 -ply, and that she had gone upstairs to 

 get out some of the premium preserves 

 .and honey, which hadn't been touched 

 :since the parson's last visit. I also 

 isoon found out that the same comfort- 

 ;able feather bed was in the company 

 :room. This made me almost as happy 

 ■as to hear of the immense number of 

 birds on both farms; the farms in this 

 •country are all posted, and some of the 

 farmers will not allow any man to shoot 

 a gun on their places. However, as 

 the writer's father owned two large 

 farms, we didn't bother ourselves about 

 the places in the neighborhood, which 

 were posted. 



■ Supper over, we went to our rooms. 

 Before retiring we looked out once 

 more and found it was still raining. 

 It is useless to say we went to sleep 

 with heavy hearts, and also unneces- 

 sary to mention that we got up at least 

 twenty times during the night to see 

 whether it had stopped raining. About 

 four o'clock we both dropped into a 

 sound sleep, and knew nothing until 

 Abe called us at seven o'clock. Abe 

 was decidedly black, and not at all pre- 

 possessing in his appearance, but when 

 he announced that it had cleared off 

 beautifully I am quite sure we could 

 have squeezed him with a relish. 



At eight o'clock we were in the field, 

 "to the right of the house, where we 

 were assured a splendid covey would 

 be found. The cows had been turned into 

 the field to graze and we had not gone 

 two hundred yards from the house be- 

 fore the dogs showed any signs of 

 game. On the right of the road there 

 -was a small piece of wheat stubble 

 about fifty yards square. In this the 

 dogs showed very plainly that we 

 would draw the first blood. 



After a few graceful circles Fan 

 seemed to have been transformed into 

 a piece of statuary. King, who was to 

 her right, was soon just behind her, in 

 the same rigid position, making a pie- 

 ture which any true sport.sman would 

 give six months' wages to own if trans- 

 ferred to canvas. We both stood for 

 at least three minutes, admiring what 

 we considered the most beautifiil point 

 we had ever seen, and perhaps would 

 have stayed there all day if King hadn't 

 seemed a little restless, and we moved 

 on beyond the dog, when up shot at 

 least forty birds. . ' 



I brought down one with my right 

 barrel, but missed one sailing off to 

 my right with the left barrel. I 

 knew that I had held for the bird and 

 was not a little worried at having madfe 

 a clear mis§. However, Theo. had 

 gotten his two birds, and I had no timfe 

 to cry over "spilt milk. " I put in twb 

 shells and started for the branch, along 

 which the whole covey had dropped. 

 Going down the hill I noticed what i 

 thought was a leaf on my left-hand 

 barrel, and I reached down to knock it 

 off. You can imagine my feelings 

 when I found that my neiu gun had 

 burst about four inches from the mu^ 

 zle; this was one of the Newnhamls 

 best guns and the first time it had been 

 shot. However, the birds were so 

 thick I concluded to shoot the right 

 hand barrel until I could send a boy to 

 Danville to get me another gun. The 

 birds got up beautifully on both sides 

 of the branch until we reached th'e 

 woods. Here we concluded to let them 

 alone and try another covey. ,' 



On comparing notes we found that >1 

 had killed seven and Theo. ten out of 

 this flock. As soon as a boy had been 

 sent to town for a new gun we started 

 for the field on the left of the house. 



