GENERAL INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 21 



teen years ago the prairies there were but sparsely 

 settled, and not one acre in a thousand had been 

 broken up. The grouse were in immense num- 

 bers ; the quail, though, were not as plentiful as 

 on the Sangamon in the brushy land of the oak 

 barrens. There was, however, and is now, a grove 

 of timber six hundred acres in extent, not far from 

 the town. It is one of the finest in the State, and 

 in it and on its borders there were many quail. 

 This grove was then owned and still belongs to 

 Mr. John D. Gillot. He has a great stock-farm, 

 his pasture-land running for seven miles at a 

 stretch. Being a man of great enterprise, as well 

 as large means, he planted hedges all over this 

 estate. They have now grown up, and, affording 

 harbor and nesting-places for the quail, the latter 

 are now more plentiful in that neighborhood than 

 they were when I first went to live there. At 

 that time very few in those parts used the double- 

 barrelled gun, and shot over dogs. I was about 

 the only one who followed shooting systematically 

 and thoroughly. But though the quail in that 

 neighborhood are now very abundant, they are 

 hard to kill. The corn grows very tall, and as 

 soon as a bevy is flushed away they go for the 

 corn-fields. Once in them, with the stalks stand- 



