A Day on Bear Brook. 



back among the hills and empties its crystal waters into the 

 murky waters of the creek. Here, among the bogs, under the 

 shelter of the thick brush, was a low neck of ground dividing 

 the two streams an ideal spot for a belated woodcock, and 

 seldom had it disappointed me. I sent Queen in, and followed 

 along the edge of the tangle for a short distance, but found it 

 impossible to see through ; so, holding my gun high above 

 my head, I incautiously broke through into the opening, 

 stumbled over my staunch little setter, and flushed a pair of 

 woodcock from under her nose. The two whistlers went 

 straight up above the tops of the trees, then made a quick twist 

 up stream; but I caught one of them on the turn, and, at the 

 crack of the gun, he came whirling down to the ground. Queen 

 rushed in through the thick tangle of brush and vines and soon 

 came back with the bird in her mouth and a pleased look in 

 her eye that seemed to say, "He's a beauty." 



About forty rods above where I got the woodcock the 

 brook made a sharp turn to the northeast. The hills were high 

 on the north and west, and there was a dense thicket of thorn- 

 apple and crab-apple, with wild grape vines running all over 

 them. I had seen a brood of young pheasants there early in 

 the season, and now headed for their sunny nook as the next 

 best place to help out my empty game pockets. I kept Queen 

 to heel until I got in a good position on the outside cover, 

 where the birds would be sure to give me a shot when they 

 were flushed. Queen worked carefully into the thicket and I 

 soon lost sight of her, but could still hear the patter of her feet 

 on the dry leaves. Soon this stopped, and while trying to lo- 

 cate her, a pheasant burst out of the farther side of the thicket. 

 He was fifty yards down-stream before I sighted him and he 

 kept straight on after I fired not even leaving me a feather as 

 a souvenir. I hardly had time to drop a shell in the empty 

 barrel when two more birds broke cover. One of them went 

 straightaway down-stream and the other circled around the 

 end of the thicket to the left. I fired at the quarterer and 

 killed ; then swung around and pulled on the other one, just as 



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