l88 GAME-BIRDS AT HOME. 



ground, they showed but half an inch, at best, 

 of faint gray or brown above the neutral tints of 

 the faded grass-stumps. Why they were so wild 

 I could not divine ; but it was only by moving 

 very slowly and using the keenest of eyesight, 

 trained from boyhood on game, that the little 

 brown or gray line could be distinguished from 

 the thousand bits of dead wood, scraps of dried 

 manure, dead leaves, and other things of the same 

 color and size. And when the game was located 

 to a certainty, and fancy could make out the long 

 bill lying ahead of the faint line of gray or brown, 

 to distinguish the color through the sights of the 

 rifle and hold them on the center with that exact- 

 ness that the rifle demands for success on such 

 fine marks called for the fineness of sight and 

 steadiness of nerve that can be kept in order only 

 by constant practice. Any attempt to get close 

 enough for certainty was quite sure to result in a 

 Scaipe, and a darting line of gray that no one 

 is fool enough to shoot at with a rifle if he knows 

 anything about it. Yet that very thing made 

 the shooting most delightful ; and though I could 

 have got far more game with the shot-gun, I used 

 nothing but the little rifle after the first day. 



