148 TETRAONIDJE. 



the point he had started from, each moment serving only 

 to increase his distance from it, and every weary step 

 leading him further away from human aid, fainting with 

 fatigue and parched with thirst. No one should venture 

 alone for any distance on the prairie until thoroughly 

 able to trust himself to steer his own way by the aid 

 of the sun. 



Blackened tracts are sometimes seen extending for 

 miles on every side, marking the course of those destruc- 

 tive fires that so often sweep with resistless fury over 

 the wide expanse. During these conflagrations the 

 Prairie-hens fly before the flames in countless numbers, 

 settling after each succeeding flight, half stupified, 

 either on the ground or on any chance tree, till 

 again driven on by the advancing tide of smoke and 

 heat. Where the grass is short the fire spreads more 

 slowly, and in a thin line easily passed through, even 

 by a man on foot, but when the waving mass of dry 

 vegetation stands as high as the head, the devouring 

 flames travelling with frightful rapidity, roaring and 

 crackling in sheets of fire, scorch and suffocate all 

 before them. The mode of escape recommended, when 

 far out on the prairie, is to ride off at a gallop as soon 

 as the clouds of smoke are seen on the horizon, and 

 after gaining a sufficient distance, to dismount and set 

 fire to the grass in front, following down wind in its 



