WESTERN FIELD SPORTS IN EARLY DAYS. 263 



shooting for the market. A sportsman conld easily kill 

 all he wanted for himself and friends, and was not apt to 

 play the hog. 



I once tried the experiment of keeping this bird in 

 captivity in winter, when the farmers used to catch them, 

 alive in traps and bring them to town for sale. I put 

 about 100 in a large garret, and fed them on corn and 

 wheat, but they never got tame enough to bear the sight 

 of me, and flew up against the roof at my approach, 

 wounding and killing themselves, and the cocks would 

 fight furiously together. By spring, four were left alive 

 out of the 100, and those poor in flesh, so I turned the 

 survivors loose. 



I once turned out a cock grouse, with clipped wings, 

 among my poultry; but they would not associate together, 

 and when his wings grew out again, he flew away. I 

 have heard that grouse have been tamed, but think they 

 should be hatched by a hen to make a success of it. 



About 1842 or 1843, I found a covey of grouse on the 

 prairie, somewhere near Michigan Avenue and Twelfth 

 Street, as it now is, a_nd we killed some of them. These, 

 I think, were the last shots fired by us within the limits 

 of the present City of Chicago. 



We had woodcock-shooting in summer along the Chi- 

 cago River, and in the sloughs along the lake shore. In the 

 timber along the Des Plaines River, woodcock abounded. 



I was there once with Dr. J. T. T ,who was one of the 



best shots I ever saw. We put up many birds that day. 

 Out of twenty shots, Doctor T - killed eighteen birds, 

 and that in thick cover a feat hard to surpass. I always 

 liked to shoot with this gentleman, for he gave me the 

 easy shots, and if I missed the birds, he would bring 

 them down. 



Doctor T used to hunt in early days with the famous 



Capt. Martin Scott, who commanded the garrison in Chi- 



