THE PRAIRIE HEN. 147 



her little ones run to cover as fast as their legs can 

 carry them, she leads the intruder in a contrary direction. 



Like the red grouse, this is a stationary bird, and 

 is only met with on the vast tracts of prairie to the 

 north and south-west of the Upper Province. 



As the mountain scenery of our Highlands forms so 

 great a portion of the enjoyment of grouse shooting, 

 so does the majesty of these ocean -like plains add to 

 the fascination of Prairie-hen shooting. There is some- 

 thing even supernaturally impressive in their vastness, 

 everlasting silence, and solitude, and in no other situa- 

 tion perhaps does man feel more strikingly what an atom 

 he is on the face of the earth than when fairly launched 

 on the prairie. With a glorious feeling, however, of 

 unbounded freedom, he wanders on over the grassy 

 surface, which, dotted with bright flowers and brighter 

 butterflies, gently rolls in the undying breeze that ever 

 fans the plain. Here and there is a clump of stunted 

 trees or a patch of brushwood, but these can hardly be 

 said to break the uniformity of the surface, for they are 

 completely lost in the immense space and are rarely 

 noticed at all till close at hand. Indeed, so utterly 

 destitute of any landmark is the face of the plain that 

 a person unused to move alone in these regions would 

 quickly lose his way, and might wander on with a 

 hundred miles of prairie before him, in vain search of 



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