A Bird Hunt in North Carolina. 



313 



the "Goldsmith" Kennel Club, of Tol- 

 edo, and still feel an interest in her^ I 

 will give a short account of a retrieve 

 made by her on this hunt which will 

 show her old acquaintances that like 

 wine she has been improved by age. 



While hunting on the second day, at 

 the foot of a hill on the bank of the 

 creek, a bird got up in front of me and 

 sailed directly across the creek. The 

 shot was too tempting to be lost so I let 

 him have it, although I hadn't the re- 

 motest idea of ever getting him. He 

 fell in some bushes on the opposite 

 bank of the creek and hung there. 

 He was still fluttering when Theo. 

 came up with Fan. 



I showed him the bird but protested 

 against Fan's being sent after him as 

 the current was very swift and I was 

 afraid she might be washed under some 

 log and drowned ; however, he thought 

 he knew best, and after he had shown 

 the bird to Fan he sent her in. As soon 

 as she was well in the current, it carried 

 her down stream at least fifty yards. 

 Still, she never seemed to lose sight of 

 the bird. 



There she was in the middle of the 

 creek, unable to make an inch of head- 

 way. 



An idea seemed to strike her; she 

 started for the opposite bank and land- 

 ed at least one hundred and fifty yards 

 below the bird. She then ran up the 

 bank to a point about twenty yards 

 above the bird and plunged in. 



She had made the right calculation, 

 for as the current swept her by the 

 bush she grabbed the bird and landed 

 two hundred yards below us and then 

 gracefully and proudly galloped up to 



us and deposited the bird in my bag. 



This was too much for Theo. ; he 

 hugged and squeezed her and I am 

 quite sure would have kissed her if no 

 one else had been present. 



On the fifth day I determined to take 

 King and hunt on the Yanceyville side 

 of the creek and leave Theo. with Fan 

 on the house side. This plan worked 

 admirably, as the birds had been shot 

 at so often that a great many of them 

 would go directly across the creek after 

 the first shot. At two o'clock we met 

 by appointment at the bridge and hunt- 

 ed that evening two or three fields 

 which we hadn't touched before. 



A count that night showed that we 

 had "held right" just one hundred 

 and thirty-seven times, besides killing 

 ten or twelve old hares. 



Our time after supper was devoted to 

 packing up, as we had to make an 

 early start next morning in order to 

 catch the Richmond express. It is use- 

 less to state that we left very reluc- 

 tantly, as we knew it would be some 

 time before we would have another 

 such hunt. 



In five days we had bagged five hun- 

 dred and sixty-nine partridges and 

 twenty-five old hares. 



Nothing happened between Danville 

 and Richmond worth relating, but on 

 Saturday night might have been seen 

 seven or eight sportsmen sitting around 

 the fire at the club, with their mouths 

 open, listening attentively to all we had 

 to say. To some of your readers this 

 may seem a tame hunt, but in this 

 section it was looked upon as some- 

 thing outside of an average week's 

 work. 



