i2 4 HUNTING TRIPS 



prairie fowl feeding in the open plain in 

 small flocks, each evidently composed of a 

 hen and her grown brood. They would 

 often be right round the cattle, and went 

 indifferently among the sage-brush or out 

 on the short prairie grass. They flew into 

 the bottom from some distance off about 

 daybreak, fed for a couple of hours, and 

 soon after sunrise again took wing and 

 flew up along the course of the dry creek 

 mentioned above. While on the bottom they 

 were generally quite shy, not permitting any 

 thing like a close approach before taking 

 wing. Their habit of crowing or clucking 

 while flying off is very noticeable; it is, by 

 the way, a most strongly characteristic trait 

 of this species. I have been especially struck 

 by it when shooting in Minnesota, where 

 both the sharp-tail and the common prairie 

 fowl are found; the contrast between the 

 noisiness of one bird and the quiet of the 

 other was very marked. If one of us ap- 

 proached a covey on horseback the birds 

 would, if they thought they were unob- 



