SHOOTING THE PRAIRIE GROUSE 413 



in September or early October, one may find these 

 broods of full-grown birds scattered over the hillsides 

 at feeding time, and in the middle of the day gathered 

 together in the shade of willows or box elders, or in 

 a clump of rose bushes, from which, if disturbed, they 

 rise with a startling roar and much cackling, to fly 

 from seventy-five to two or three hundred yards, and 

 drop in some convenient cover along the ravine or 

 on a hillside. I have found them in southern Mon- 

 tana under just these conditions, where, if one had had 

 a good dog and a shooting pony, it would not have 

 been difficult to exterminate the whole brood. 



It is soon after this, however, as the nights grow 

 cold and frosty, that the birds get together in larger 

 companies, several broods uniting, and in the early 

 mornings take to the tops of the cottonwoods and wil- 

 lows, where they keep that excellent lookout that Mr. 

 Latrobe has so well described in another species. At 

 that time they are shy and quite impossible of approach 

 in these exposed situations. 



Though the sharp-tailed grouse rises from the 

 ground with noise enough to disconcert the gunner of 

 slight experience, it is not a difficult bird to kill. The 

 mark is large and the bird's flight steady and straight. 

 There is time enough to shoot carefully. At a straight- 

 away, low-flying bird one may shoot directly, but 

 crossing shots demand that the bird should be led a 

 little. After all, this is almost wholly a matter of 

 experience, and as almost all the shots are in the open, 

 one may fire deliberately, and can, usually, if he misses, 



