THE SPOET CONTINUED. 69 



his comrades, and then fall straight as a plummet, 

 and head first, to earth. It had caught some stray 

 shot from the bombardment Muggs claimed from 

 his gun, but this statement the setter, could he have 

 spoken, would certainly have disputed. 



Semi-Colon brought in the game, which proved to 

 be a fine male, with whiskers and full plumage, which 

 roust have made sad havoc among the hearts of the 

 hens, when the old fellow was on annual dress pa- 

 rade in the spring. At that season of the year the 

 cocks seek some knoll of the prairie, where the grass 

 has been burnt or cut off, and strut up and down with 

 ruffled feathers, uttering meanwhile a booming sound, 

 which can be heard in a clear morning for miles. 

 The flabby pink skin that at other seasons hangs in 

 loose folds on his neck is then distended like a bag- 

 pipe, and he is a very different bird from the same 

 individual in his Quaker gray and respectable sum- 

 mer and fall habits. 



Ensconced again in the wagon, our party moved 

 forward, the dogs, as before, examining the prairie. 

 The professor was comparing the birds of the present 

 and the past ages, when Muggs suddenly blasted his 

 eyes and declared the beasts were at it again. And 

 so they were, the setter making a good stand at some 

 game in the grass, and the other dog, a short distance 

 off, pointing his companion. During the remainder 

 of the day we found many large flocks of birds, and 

 fired away until two or three swelled noses testified 

 how dirty our guns were. 



"Fast shooting," said the professor, as we were on 

 our way home, "is as bad as that too slow. Al- 



