302 MODERN TRAINING. 



who goes later in the season to enjoy the shooting and 

 cooler weather will find but little to repay him for his 

 trouble. Broken bevies, wild birds and the most irregular 

 and unsatisfactory sport in consequence, is then the rule. 



During the hot weather the chickens are comparatively 

 easy for the dog to point, and the hunter to shoot. Their 

 flights are slow and short ; but when the nights begin to 

 get cool and the fall winds set in, they become wilder and 

 wilder, and in the last of August or early September, begin 

 to pack, /. e., two or three covies will unite in one flock, and 

 as the weather gradually becomes more unpleasant and un- 

 settled, the small flocks unite into larger ones. An old 

 cock or two may be found here and there, which will not 

 live with the main flock. Thus all the birds of a certain 

 section are, after a time, in one or two large packs; conse- 

 quently the shooting then is very uncertain since the pack 

 must be found before any shooting can be done. If the 

 weather is cold or unsettled, the pack when found will fly 

 straightway out of sight. If the hunter should be so fortu- 

 nate as to find it on a warm, quiet day, or if a gentle, warm 

 breeze is blowing, the birds will lie like stones and their 

 flights are shorter. If the pack lights in long grass and scat- 

 ters after the first flight, the sportsman may have shoot- 

 ing that will reward many fruitless efforts. The birds will 

 rise, one, two or three at a time, and it requires a steady 

 nerve and cool judgment to take skillful advantage of 

 the opportunities, and not get " rattled." Generally, 

 when the fall weather sets in, the birds become so wild and 

 unapproachable that there is very little sport ir hunting 

 them. If one bird flushes all go with it. 



On windy days, the cornfields and sloughs covered with 

 long grass are favorite haunts in September. A section in 

 which corn is largely grown is a very poor one for chicken 

 shooting. The birds fly to the cornfields and are then safe, 



