74 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTIN"G. 



pierced the heart of my merry companion, judging from 

 her words and manner. 



Having inferentially learned his position as a wooer in 

 the course of ten or fifteen minutes, further information 

 in that line was stopped by Miss Lucy's abrujDt " Here 

 we are! This is a splendid place for chickens. They 

 rest here in the morning, and, when flushed, go for those 

 cornfields on the ridge, where we will find them by-and- 

 by, as soon as the sun gets hot." I alighted on hearing 

 tliis, and the dogs being ordered out, the moment they 

 touched the ground they commenced working in the 

 most vigorous manner. They ranged wide, but lifted 

 their heads every few moments and looked towards us, 

 as if they were desirous of knowing what we thought of 

 their movements, or whether we wished to give them 

 fresh instructions. 



A simple wave of the hand from their fair mistress 

 sent them in whatever direction she wished, but, as they 

 seemed to be working a blank, they were recalled by the 

 whistle in about fifteen minutes, and sent to beat up a 

 long, low, rolling ridge, or hillock, where the grass was 

 rather short, owing to the profusion of creeping bushes. 

 They had scarcely entered that quarter before they be- 

 came wildly excited, and running rapidly onward, with 

 noses well in the air, they came to such a sudden lialt 

 that they were almost bent into a semicircle, while their 

 tails became as rigid as pokers, and their heads as mo- 

 tionless as lifeless skulls. I approached them to look for 

 the birds, but, not seeing any, I advanced a pace or two 

 further, when a whole brood rose within four or five 

 yards of me, and so abruptly, that I took no aim hardly; 

 yet I brought down two. The reports of my gun had 

 hardly ceased when two more were heard, and on glanc- 

 ing round I saw that Miss Lucy had used the light 

 weapon she carried in front of her in the pliaeton, and 

 bagged a bird, while she wounded another that escajDed. 



