OF A RANCHMAN 91 



from bad to indifferent, and my bags have 

 been always small. 



Once I made an unusually successful right 

 and left, however. In late summer and early 

 fall large flocks of both green-winged and 

 blue-winged teal are often seen both on the 

 ponds and on the river, flying up and down 

 the latter. On one occasion while out with 

 the wagon we halted for the mid-day meal 

 on the bank of the river. Travelling across 

 the plains in company with a wagon, espec- 

 ially if making a long trip, as we were then 

 doing, is both tiresome and monotonous. 

 The scenery through the places where the 

 wagon must go is everywhere much the 

 same, and the pace is very slow. At lunch- 

 time I was glad to get off the horse, which 

 had been plodding along at a walk for hours, 

 and stretch my muscles; and, noticing a 

 bunch of teal fly past and round a bend in the 

 river, I seized the chance for a little diver- 

 sion, and taking my double-barrel, followed 

 them on foot. The banks were five or six 

 feet high, edged with a thick growth of 



