90 WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 
secrets of his habits, and who have hunted him success- 
fully, the bird does not fly that causes the hunter’s 
heart to bound with delight and sends the warm blood 
rushing through his veins, as does this erratic bird. 
He comes and goes at such times as pleases his own 
wandering fancy. ‘To-day, one may visit the well- 
known places of his resort, confident in finding him and 
his kind in large numbers. The most inviting places 
are thoroughly searched. ‘The keen nose propelled by 
the tireless lope of the faithful setter or pointer fails to 
search him out. Swamps are traversed; meadows 
tramped over; marshes through which the springs 
gently flow, are gone through; slimy beds of peat and 
muck are visited, and still he cannot be found. ‘This, 
at a time when past successes would warrant one in 
feeling confident that the bird would be found in all 
the places. that have been so faithfully searched. The 
skilled shooter does not despair because of his ill-luck, 
but bides his time; for experience has taught him that 
on the very next day, perhaps, the very places where 
he did not see a feather, will be full of birds dispersed 
throughout the marsh, singly, in pairs, and scattered in 
bunches or wisps, from twenty to fifty feet apart. They 
are found in abundance in Illinois and Iowa in all the 
low-lands—black and loamy soil being their place of 
feeding. ‘They come and go, as a general thing, in the 
night. This is shown by places which have been 
thoroughly hunted over one day, and nothing seen, on 
being visited the succeeding day, are found to be, one 
might say, alive with them. The time of their arrival 
is both spring and fall. I have always found them 
more abundant in the spring. ‘They come the latter 
part of April, early in May, sometimes late in that 
