40 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA 
hood or by whistling him out of the yard. This Sam 
continued to do till he was detected and informed that 
the next time the dog was taken off by him his gun would 
be appropriated by the owner of the dog. 
“Sam killed a good many partridges last season, and up 
to Christmas 1891 had bagged more than the writer of 
these notes. 
‘Woody Lawson shoots partridges when time and op- 
portunity permit. Woody lived many years with Dr. 
Cobbs ana often accompanied him and the boys shooting, 
hence his love for wing-shooting. 
“Bllis Ryan, as all know, shoots partridges and he 
makes heavy bags—too heavy, alas! for sportsmen to get 
an equal share of game. The desire to make big bags 
and to boast about it is doing as much as any other thing 
to exterminate our partridge. For my part, I take pleas- 
ure in saying that I killed on such or such a day two or 
three or four, or half a dozen birds, as the case may be. 
Though Ellis is a good shoot, if he confined himself to 
shooting at the covey on the wing alone, he could nat 
get so many more birds than other shooters; but I have 
hunted with him and seen him find covey after covey on 
the ground, when his dog pointed. My presence alone 
prevented their destruction. 
“T have mentioned some of the negro shooters in and 
around Greensboro who have taken to wing-shooting, to 
show that the scarcity of birds may be easily accounted 
for when we take into consideration the fact that the ne- 
gro, having exterminated the squirrel, has turned his at- 
tention to poor little Bob White; and I fear greatly that 
this game little fellow must soon go the way of the 
squirrel. 
“Tt is not only around Greensboro, but, if what the 
negroes themselves tell me can be believed, everywhere in 
the Blackbelt they are shooting partridges. 
“It was not without cause last year, that, discovering 
this widespread and increasing pursuit (with gun and 
dog) of our little game bird, I felt that his destruction 
was not far off, though it has come much sooner than I 
expected. 
