i 3 2 HUNTING TRIPS 



in the early part of the month I have once 

 or twice had good sport with them. Once 

 I took a companion in the buck-board, and 

 drove during the course of the day twenty 

 or twenty-five miles along the edge of the 

 rolling prairie, crossing the creeks, and skirt- 

 ing the wooded basins where the Bad Lands 

 began. We came across quite a number of 

 coveys, which in almost all cases waited for 

 us to come up, and as the birds did not rise 

 all together, I got three or four shots at each 

 covey, and came home with ten and a half 

 couple. 



A little later the birds become shy and ac- 

 quire their full strength of wing. They now 

 wander far out on the prairie, and hardly ever 

 make any effort to squat down and conceal 

 themselves in the marvellous way which they 

 have earlier in the season, but, on the con- 

 trary, trust to their vigilance and their pow- 

 ers of flight for their safety. On bare ground 

 it is now impossible to get anywhere near 

 them, but if they are among sage-brush or 

 in other low cover they afford fine sport to 



