30 GUN, KOD, ANT> SADDLE. 



for although they may wander from their breeding 

 place, from constant attention, I am convinced that 

 the change of quarters is caused from scarcity of 

 food. On the edges of the dry prairies in south- 

 ern Illinois, in early autumn, this bird abounds ; in 

 winter they disappear into the neighboring thickets 

 and brush, for why? the prairies are constantly 

 burned at the end of the season, and consequently 

 starvation or change of residence is their alterna- 

 tives. In one section of the country that I resided 

 in, a great portion of the prairie land was too wet to 

 burn, and many a heavy bag I obtained late in the 

 season, even when the roots of the grass were sub- 

 merged in ice. My dogs, which I invariably broke 

 upon them, seldom made mistakes, and never do I 

 remember a covey departing (except the pointer or 

 setter had run into them coming down wind) with- 

 out getting at least a barrel into them. I believe 

 these birds are equally adapted for naturalization 

 into either England, Scotland, or Ireland, and with 

 other varieties of game they appear to agree well, 

 for I have on several occasions killed this partridge 

 with one barrel, and the ruffed grouse with the other 

 over the same point. 



As a table delicacy I know no greater ; for weeks 



