68 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING. 



the dogs are ranging widely, the men can follow them 

 in the carriage, and alight when the animals come to a 

 point. It also enables them to travel rapidly after flushed 

 packs, so that little time is wasted in searching for them. 



The best regions for pinnated grouse are the tier of 

 States running north from Texas to Manitoba, and west 

 from Illinois to the Rocky Mountains. Of these the pref- 

 erence might, perhaps, be given to Wisconsin, Iowa, 

 Minnesota, Dakota, and portions of Colorado and the 

 Indian Territory. It is nothing unusual for a farmer to 

 bag two or three thousand birds in a season in some of 

 these j^laces, with an old muzzle-loader, but the number 

 shot by market hunters cannot even be estimated. I 

 heard a very Avell-inform?d sportsman say that from half 

 a million to a million birds were killed annually in Iowa 

 alone, and allowing that the same destruction, in propor- 

 tion to their numbers, takes jilace in other States, one 

 can readily imagine the havoc committed among them. 

 This statement is probably in no way exaggerated, as it is 

 well known that many persons who supply the market 

 often trap from one to two thousand birds in a week, 

 especially in snowy weather, and sell them so cheaply 

 that the poorest class of laborers can indulge in game 

 dinners. 



One of the most interesting scenes of its character 

 to be met with anywhere, is that visible on the prairies 

 as soon as the shooting season opens, on the fifteenth of 

 August; for on that day sulkies, phaetons, wagons, and 

 traps of various kinds may be seen travelling over the 

 emerald sea of grass; eager men and dogs range in all 

 directions; the sky is peppered with flying packs; many 

 miniature clouds of powder smoke hang in the air or 

 lazily float along; while the detonations of the guns come 

 ringing from every quarter, and the rapid flashes are fol- 

 lowed by showers of feathers. These incidents may not 

 be such as to appeal to the highest moral law, yet few 



