PINNATED GROUSE. 239 



this prairie had not been burnt, although others in the 

 vicinity had undergone the operation. Early in the 

 season, before the young have attained maturity, and ere 

 the cold and boisterous winds of autumn have caused 

 them to pack, the sportsman must indeed be a bad 

 shot who cannot tumble them on nearly each discharge, 

 for they are easy of approach, lying very close, and 

 rising and flying slowly, without making much of that 

 disconcerting disturbance so apparent in the flushing 

 of partridge and of rufied grouse. Again, the ground 

 in which they are found is open and clear from inter- 

 ruptions, afibrding an abundance of time for the most 

 precise and formal to take aim ; but after the autumnal 

 equinoctial gales have whistled over the unprotected 

 landscape, and the sharp night frosts have changed the 

 verdant leaves to a vermilion or golden hue, rapid and 

 precise shooting is required, for not only will they rise 

 at long range, but take hard and fair hitting to bring 

 them down, and instead of finding the quarry on the 

 sun-warmed, open, grassy slopes, the dense tall corn 

 will be more frequently selected as their chosen retreat. 

 Of course, the farther you proceed West, till you reach 

 the ultimate extremities of civilisation, the greater will 

 be your prospects of heavy bags, and more particularly 

 go late in the season, as the population being sparse, 

 and the intrusion of cattle, sheep, and dogs less fre- 



