320 AMEEICAK GAME BIRD SHOOTIHG. 



the ground, and told him he had better seek some other 

 quarters for his shooting. He complied, by joining our 

 comrades, but as they also refused to shoot in his com- 

 pany, he was compelled to go home. We shot up to eleven 

 o'clock, and scored twenty brace, and knowing it would 

 be a comparative Avaste of time to work during the mid- 

 dle of the day, we returned to the house and remained 

 there until four o'clock. This time Avas not idly spent, 

 however, for the party utilized it in discussing the hab- 

 its of quails, the proper charges for guns, and the various 

 methods of shooting. When these subjects were exhausted 

 they related yarns about dogs, wonderful shots, and ad- 

 ven-tures in the field. Some of these were exceedingly 

 " tall," but as they were intended to be tall, and were full 

 of grim humor, they were greeted with hearty laughter. 

 We salHed out again in the evening, and though the sky 

 was somewhat murky, we managed to flush several bev- 

 ies, despite their efforts to baffle the dogs and keep under 

 cover, and made a fair score. We had shots of all kinds 

 at them, straight away, quartering, towering, and 

 " skew ways," as my associate expressed it, and bagged 

 eleven brace in an hour and a half. 



As it was getting too late to shoot any more, we started 

 homeward, but we had not gone far ere the sky became 

 so dark that we could not see ten paces. We were there- 

 fore compelled to flounder along the best way we could, 

 and this resulted in several tumbles head foremost into 

 bushes or tall grass. We Avere cheered on our Avay by the 

 loud and melancholy howling of prairie wolves, whose 

 lugubrious tones reminded me of Availing squaws at an 

 Indian wake, but the humorist of the party explained 

 that they were "fatherless orphans crying for their 

 mothers." On reaching the house we found a hot 

 dinner awaiting us. When that was finished, the inci- 

 dents of the day were fully discussed, and all concluded 

 that quail shooting OA^er dogs Avas s^jleudid sport. The 



