UPLAND SHOOTING. 173 



On the first of July I went with a friend, a good shot and ea- 

 ger sportsman, to a favorite shooting ground, in Orange county, 

 N. Y., on a part of which — for it had a very large range, and 

 contained many varieties of lying — we had bagged on the pre- 

 vious year a hundred und twenty-five ])irds in a single day's 

 shooting. 



We shot the first day on the low meadows, and killed hardly 

 any birds ; not, to the best of my recollection, above ten or a 

 dozen, in a severe day's walking. They were well grown birds, 

 but not a single old one in the number. My companion, greatly 

 annoyed, insisted that the gi'ound had been hunted befoi e that 

 season, and all the birds killed off, except the handful that \\e had 

 found. From this conclusion I dissented, arguing that if such 

 had been the case, we should have found old birds, the young 

 being the easier both to find and to kill, especially for cockney 

 sportsmen, who alone may be presumed to hunt before, that sea- 

 son. My friend grew almost angry, and asked me, " Where, 

 then, are the birds ]" I answered, " Wait till to-morrow even- 

 ing, when we shall have beat our other ground, and I \\'\\\ tell 

 you." 



The next day we did beat the other ground ; wet swales, and 

 sloping woods of small extent in valleys watered by little stream- 

 lets from the hills. The result was the same, a wretched day's 

 sport, and no old birds, or at least hardly any. 



As usual, each held his own position ; my friend again asked, 

 " How do you account for this f ' I replied, " All the young 

 broods have been destroyed by the freshet, except the very few 

 which o-ot off before the May flood. This accounts for the few- 

 ness of the birds, and for the uncommon size of those few. The 

 old birds are now hatching their second broods on the ridges and 

 hill sides. I will show you that I am right, to-morrow." And 

 to-morrow I did show him that the ridges and sapling coverts — 

 sprouts, as the country people call them — were full of old birds, 

 hovering, and no young ones. 



Still my companion was incredulous as to the second broods, 

 lentil in the afternoon, as I was passing through a little clump of 



