112 FIELD SHOOTING. 



a secluded place at the root of a tree or stump, 

 or by the side of an old, mossy log over- 

 grown with blackberry briers. The hen lays 

 frtfm twelve to fifteen eggs, and when first 

 hatched the chicks are the most beautiful, cunning, 

 and alert little things that can be seen any- 

 where. TKe editor of this work had an excellent 

 opportunity for observing them and their watchful, 

 devoted mothers on one well-remembered occa- 

 sion. Nearly thirty years ago he was upon an 

 exploring expedition in the northwest part of the 

 lower peninsula of Michigan. The country was 

 then very thinly settled about there. A few 

 men had with much labor hewn out little clear- 

 ings in the heavy-timbered woods in places on the 

 banks of rivers, but the great industry was log- 

 ging in the pine-woods, splitting shingles, and 

 fishing during the spring freshets, when the low- 

 lands and wet prairies were literally covered 

 with pickerel. The ridges were thickly timbered 

 with beech and rnaple where not covered with 

 pine, and the bottom-lands were clothed with 

 gigantic oak, black-walnut, basswood, hickory, 

 and butternut trees. It was a country watered 

 by a network of rivers, which united to form 

 the Saginaw, soon after which junction the latter fell 



