46 GAME-BIRDS AT HOME. 



tainty and not try to catch the scent too warm, 

 or a roar of wings and distant flash of brown, 

 too short to shoot at, will be all you see or hear. 

 But right well an old dog knows his business, 

 and you find him perhaps rigid beside a log or 

 little brook he dares not cross. And then, how 

 arc you to get a shot ? The maple is flaming 

 beside the pale gold of the birch, and the bright 

 red of the dogwood vies with the russet of the 

 oak in barring the path of your vision. The 

 scarlet of the cockspur-thorn yet robes its matted 

 arms, and the yellow leaves of the aspen tremble 

 on its white trunk. How in such a maze of 

 color do you expect to catch that glimpse of 

 white and brown that for an instant only will 

 mark the path of a bird to which all thickets are 

 as smooth a path as the blue of space to the 

 sunbeam ? 



Before you come within twenty feet of your 

 dog there is a heavy Bbbbbbbbbbbbbb some ten 

 yards ahead of him, a whisk of brown, a scatter- 

 ing of dry leaves beneath it. In a twinkling you 

 drop on one knee and toss the gun to your 

 shoulder. 



And is that all ? 



