86 FRANK SCHLEY'S PARTRIDGE AND PHEASANT SHOOTING. 



panion to the left. At the report of the gun, the covey 

 arose, and it was rigidly fired into by all three of us. My 

 companion to the left got in his shot in good style, and 

 bagged his second bird. My companion to the right got 

 both his first and second shots in beautifully, and bagged 

 two birds. I got my first shot in, and bagged one bird, but 

 the second shot I was balked in, by the bird being shot 

 away from me by one or the other of my companions, and 

 I fired my second shot at the balance of the covey of seven 

 birds a long distance off. At the report of my second bar- 

 rel I saw the feathers fly out of one bird among the seven, 

 and I knew one was hit, and I called upon my companion 

 to watch them and mark them down, at the same time do- 

 ing so myself. The seven birds went on, and dropped close 

 together in the same field, near a large locust stump, which 

 was some two hundred yards distant. After charging our 

 guns we followed them up. On arriving at the stump, my 

 two dogs, Ponto and Rate, stood almost simultaneously, 

 the third dog, Rover, back pointing a short distance off. 

 Close b}~ the stump stood a small clump of pokeberry bushes. 

 Some of the branches were broken and hanging down; un- 

 der these branches the ground was perfectly bare, and from 

 there one bird sprang. I dropped it in a moment. The 

 dogs moved at the discharge of the gun, and three more 

 birds arose and flew in a scattered direction. One of my 

 companions dropped one of them, and the other got the 

 other two down. The dogs I dropped in a moment, fear- 

 ing they might move the remaining three birds yet un- 

 flushed. We reloaded and bagged the four birds, and then 

 hied on the dogs. They went up to and under the poke- 

 berry bushes, and nosed every inch of ground over and over 

 again where these birds sprang from, but not a feather coul(,l 

 they find. My companions and myself marked the seven 

 birds well and closely. Wondering what could be the mat- 

 ter, we made the dogs hunt very closely around the spot, 

 but not a bird could they find. We hunted the ground over 

 and over again, the dogs crossing and recrossing, checker- 

 ing it, but not a sign of a bird could they find. We eyed 



