MY OLD-JHx; TRIM. 87 



almost to death with their infernal clatter, as they rose from 

 the path where we had just passed, secure in the knowledge 

 that if they heard the whistle of the shot it would not be in 

 their direction, it was generally their last swing, for this per- 

 formance had fooled us several times, and appeared to vex 

 Trim, and so soon as a curve in the trail led him to suspect 

 the trick, his hair would rise, and he would back out from 

 the trail and swing for them in a manner that they did not 

 appear to understand. Circling at break neck speed, until 

 he got the wind of the now confused bird, he would hold it 

 fast and give me an easy shot. His wonderful reasoning 

 powers, and the tact which he displayed, in adapting himself 

 to the different moods of the birds, were very prolific in 

 filling the bag. Were they wild and prone to rise at a long 

 distance, he would make as much noise as a pair of unbroken 

 steers, and thrash around in the brush in a manner that 

 strangers to him would always ridicule ; but he knew what 

 he was about, and approaching the bird in a serpentine 

 course would get as close a3 he wished, and make his point, 

 from which an avalanche could not stir him, and you could 

 go home and get your dinner, with no fear but that you 

 would find him there when you returned, aed the bird too. 

 Were they shy and disposed to skulk and hide, no cat more 

 stealthy than he ; with his head always high in air he 

 would creep through the tangled thicket, never breaking a 

 twig, nor turning a leaf, and if we did not get the bird it was 

 not for the want of a fair shot. As an instance of his re- 

 markable sagacity, I will relate an incident that was very 

 pleasing to me, and that resulted in the capture of a most 

 royal bird. It was just at the outlet of a large swamp, where 

 there was a ditch about four feet wide, and as deep, that 

 emptied into a small stream which it intersected at right 

 argles ; along tbe bank of the stream was an alder thicket 

 that extended up stream ten or twelve rods and then curved 

 round and joined the swamp; near the mouth of the ditch 

 was a favorite spot from which I had several times started 

 a noble bird, which had always got away scot free ; it would 

 manage to put the thicket between itself and myself, and fly 



