78 Grouse. 



out from the edges of the brushes, and I got one bird out 

 of each, reaching home just after sunset with fifteen sharp- 

 tails strung over my back. Of course working after grouse 

 on an August day in this manner, without a dog, is very 

 tiring, and no great bag can be made without a pointer or 

 setter. 



In September the sharp-tails begin to come out from 

 the brushy coulies and creek bottoms, and to wander out 

 among the short grass of the ravines and over the open 

 prairie. They are at first not very shy, and in the early 

 part of the month I have once or twice had good sport 

 with them. Once I took a companion in the buck-board, 

 and drove during the course of the day twenty or twenty- 

 five miles along the edge of the rolling prairie, crossing 

 the creeks, and skirting the wooded basins where the Bad 

 Lands began. We came across quite a number of coveys, 

 which in almost all cases waited for us to come up, and as 

 the birds did not rise all together, I got three or four shots 

 at each covey, and came home with ten and a half couple. 



A little later the birds become shy and acquire their 

 full strength of wing. They now wander far out on the 

 prairie, and hardly ever make any effort to squat down 

 and conceal themselves in the marvellous way which they 

 have earlier in the season, but, on the contrary, trust to 

 their vigilance and their powers of flight for their safety. 

 On bare ground it is now impossible to get anywhere 

 near them, but if they are among sage-brush or in other 

 low cover they afford fine sport to a good shot, with a 

 close-shooting, strong-hitting gun. I remember one even- 

 ing, while coming over with a wagon team from the head 



