122 WILDFOWL SHOOTING IN THE WESTERN STATES. 



field was decided upon as our scene of operations, 

 for it still afforded some cover, and comparatively 

 speaking, dry standing ground, and, better than all, 

 it did not necessitate my good, faithful dog wetting a 

 hair of his bonny coat. 



I took with me both my guns, for very severe work 

 was before me, and about two hundred cartridges, 

 thinking, when leaving the homestead, that this 

 supply would be amply sufficient for all my require- 

 ments. Now, I knew that double, or even treble, that 

 quantity could easily have been got rid of ; but I have 

 no desire to beat " gunning 1 ' records, so felt satisfied 

 with the good fortune that had fallen to my lot. 



My friend selected his stand first, then I went 

 about a hundred and twenty yards beyond him till I 

 reached a trifling elevation of the ground, on which 

 there still stood a goodly sprinkling of corn-stalks. 

 About half a dozen of these I tied together, and 

 thrust a handful of dead weeds into their tops, and so 

 formed in a few minutes a screen that ingenuity and 

 mechanism could not have improved. While this bit 

 of work was being done I took no trouble to hide 

 myself, nor was it necessary, for the birds seemed to 

 regard me with such utter indifference, that they kept 

 swinging to and fro, often passing within ten or 

 twelve yards of where I stood. It was snowing, but 

 not heavily, and the flakes were of the smallest size, 

 yet the violence of the wind made them adhere to my 

 shooting coat and cap, both of which were within a 

 shade or two of the colour of my shelter. 



Now commenced the work ; but spare me doing 

 an impossibility by trying to describe each shot 

 made. Some birds towered, then fell dead ; others, 

 generally winged birds, came down slantingly, and 

 with such velocity as to tear the feathers and down 

 off their breasts, and even, in some instances, break 

 their skins, while a third, amidst a perfect cloud of 

 feathers, entirely collapsed, and reached the ground 



