32 FEATHERED GAME 



is at your shoulder but you see him only dimly 

 and mark his course mostly by the shaking 

 twigs and so decide to wait until he tops yon 

 fallen tree and comes more clearly into view. 

 Thus you learn that you must take this fellow 

 when you can, for he knows better than to rise 

 into your open view like that. Such a move 

 might do for a woodcock, but this master of 

 sylvan strategy knows a trick worth two of 

 that. He dives below the log, runs into the 

 rankly growing brakes and fifty yards beyond 

 again takes wing to fly in safety into a thick 

 hemlock on the side hill. You lower your gun 

 and exclaim, "Well, I'll be hanged!" (or words 

 to that effect), and a red squirrel, sole witness 

 of your defeat, goes scurrying up the spruce 

 tree at your side and jeers and chuckles and 

 "sasses" you with all the wild-wood impudence 

 at his command. No opportunity should be al- 

 lowed to pass unimproved if you are to make 

 a good score. Your percentage of kills to car- 

 tridges used is bound to be small, so don't try 

 to "fatten your average" by picking shots. 

 Under ordinary conditions one cannot make a 

 bag of Buffed Grouse and be sparing of his 

 ammunition. It is often necessary to shoot 



