Grouse of the Northern Cattle Plains 87 



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 buckboard, and drove dur- 

 ing 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 num- 

 ber of coveys, which in almost all cases waited for 

 us to come up, and as the birds did not rise all to- 

 gether, 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 mar- 

 velous 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 

 headwaters of O'Fallon Creek, across the Big 

 Sandy, when it became a matter of a good deal of 

 interest for us to kill something, as otherwise we 

 would have had very little to eat. We had camped 

 near a succession of small pools, containing one or 



