BREAKING AND HANDLING. 303 



save an occasional few that may be shot. On the whole, 

 these birds afford the dullest, tamest sport, and about all 

 that can be said in their favor is that they furnish some sum- 

 mer shooting. However, it requires a good man, dog and 

 gun to show successful results after the chickens become 

 strong and wild, but their excessive wildness and scarcity 

 render the sport extremely unsatisfactory. Still there are 

 shooters who find it excellent, and, after all, the sport that 

 the shooter takes the most pleasure in is the best for him. 

 Two horses, which are not afraid of the report of a gun, 

 and a strong double spring wagon, are the best for chicken 

 hunting. A good, experienced driver, one who understands 

 chicken hunting, is indispensable to good sport, and no other 

 should be accepted. His knowledge of the country, habits 

 and haunts of the birds, and skill in marking them down, 

 are invaluable. When the dog points, if in a rolling or 

 hilly country, the driver can take a commanding position on 

 some elevation before the birds are flushed, and from his po- 

 sition in the wagon can mark accurately where they light. 

 If the shooter is inexperienced, he will mark the birds inac- 

 curately. After taking his eyes off the spot he can see fifty 

 places just like the one he marked the birds by, there being 

 a great similarity in the characteristic features of the prairie. 

 Besides noting the exact place as carefully as may be, the 

 shooter should mark it in a straight line with a straw or 

 wheat stack, house, grove, or other prominent object some- 

 where between the chickens and the horizon. He can always 

 then approach them directly. Sometimes they light nearer 

 than they appear to, at other times farther, the absence of all 

 objects for comparison rendering the distance difficult to es- 

 timate. When marking their flight the eye should not be 

 taken off them for an instant, and only when they are seen 

 to light, is there any certainty of estimating where they will 

 be found. 



