266 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



tions. With much difficulty, and the energetic use of all 

 the vim left in us, we progressed slowly and steadily, till we 

 reached the edge of the water, where, ensconcing ourselves 

 in the centre of some of the scattered water-loving brush 

 which vegetated in the vicinity, we awaited the result. 



Permit me, kind reader, to deviate from my narrative, 

 and give a hint to all who love the gun that they may find 

 useful in their future essays against all descriptions of game. 

 I have heard sportsmen and those gentlemen of experience 

 condemn Colonel Hawker for impressing upon his pupils 

 the necessity of particular attention to their costume, many 

 thinking he devoted too much time and pains to what ap- 

 peared to them a very unnecessary desideratum. If any 

 one who peruses these lines should be of that impression, 

 allow me, with all kindly feeling, to take an opposite stand, 

 and assert that there is nothing which will more certainly 

 guarantee your success than paying due attention to wear- 

 ing clothes that at all times harmonize with the coloring of 

 the ground over which you are about to shoot. I have so 

 many times had convincing proofs of the efficacy of attend- 

 ing to this important point, that I consider it scarcely pos- 

 sible to impress it too strongly upon the minds of all. An 

 instance I will state, out of many others I could tell of, 

 which I think will prove that the grounds I take are strong, 

 and beyond opposition. While sojourning West I made 

 the acquaintance of a good-hearted, kind gentleman and 

 thorough sportsman, whom the uncertainty of worldly af- 

 fairs had reduced much in pecuniary circumstances. In 

 those days, although I had experience, still, as now, I had 

 much to learn : my friend was, if any thing, my superior as 

 a shot, more particularly on wild fowl. On the breaking 

 up of winter in the spring of '65 in fact, the morning 

 after a decided thaw had set in he arrived at my house 

 at an early hour, and invited me to accompany him on the 



