76 GAME-BIRDS AT HOME. 



settled to a walk, the walk to a crawl, and the 

 crawl to a firm point. Ten, twenty, almost forty 

 yards we walked ahead of him without anything 

 moving, yet he refused to budge. Just as some 

 one intimated that he was fibbing, an old hen- 

 grouse burst from almost beneath the feet of one 

 of the novices. Two full-grown young ones 

 followed with a Kuk-kuk-kiik-kuk-knk on the 

 right, two more on the left, then two or three 

 in front, and then two or three more on each side. 



No such thing as first shot for any one, then ! 

 Courtesy was whistled down the wind and guns 

 spouted fire overhead, across noses and alongside 

 of ears ; for at this time of the day love of nature 

 is liable to be tempered with considerations of the 

 larder. In about seven seconds seven grouse lay 

 in a semicircle, while five or six more vanished 

 over a rise beyond, as Doc came trotting up with 

 wagging tail and looking the most satisfied of the 

 party. 



As we went to find the birds that had escaped 

 this last cannonade we discovered Prince some 

 four hundred yards away, on the edge of the 

 prairie-grass and motionless as the Sphinx, gazing 

 vacantly out upon a stubble. As we came up 



