300 MODERN TRAINING. 



temperature rarely dropping to the freezing point. During 

 March and April, the shooting is again good, although 

 inferior to that of the fall. Often the hunter will find snipe 

 in the cotton and sedge fields, while he is hunting for quails. 

 They are frequently a nuisance to the quail hunter. Dogs, 

 in many instances, become very fond of hunting them, 

 and by constant hunting learn all their favorite winter feed- 

 ing grounds. When hunting quails, the dog will suddenly 

 remember one of these grounds if in the vicinity, and 

 will take a straight line to it, perhaps half a mile away. If 

 he finds one and points, there is then a long ride or walk 

 for a bird so common that it is not valued highly, and the 

 shooting of it is much inferior to quail shooting. 



In working a dog on snipe, he must be corrected if he 

 shows a disposition to press his birds too closely, for such 

 acts, if habitual, are destructive to the sport. When snipe are 

 scarce, the dog can range wide and fast as in quail shooting. 

 An intelligent dog soon learns to work on snipe with greater 

 caution and slowness than on quails, and if hunted on them 

 week after week as can be done in Louisiana or Texas in 

 proper season, the slowness becomes habitual to the injury 

 of the dog's work on quails. The heavy grounds also con- 

 tribute to the slowness. Considering all the uncertainties 

 in the habits and nature of the bird and the unpleasant 

 work of walking in muddy marshes or heavy- upland, it is 

 not a desirable bird to educate dogs on. The author has 

 shot them week after week and always considered them far 

 inferior to quails. It is quite fascinating for a few days 

 when the birds are plentiful, but it soon becomes flat after 

 the novelty wears off, and quails will have a superiority by 

 contrast. 



Prairie chicken hunting requires very little skill in man or 

 dog early in the season, although there is no hunting which 

 requires more endurance. The habitat of this bird is in the 



