158 LEWIS'S AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



Nearly if not every bird was killed singly, as we were particu- 

 larly unfortunate in shooting into coveys, never having bagged over 

 two at any one time ; but most generally we tipped the first two 

 th;it rose when flushed. 



Since writing the above account for the Spirit, we have heard 

 of some shooting that far exceeded this count in the number of 

 the slain; but we doubt very much whether the shooting in itself 

 was beaten, for, taking the state of the weather, the quantity of 

 birds, and all other attendant circumstances, into consideration, we 

 think there are very few of our crack shots that could have done 

 as well, and many we are sure would not have accomplished as 

 much. The best shooting, however, or rather the biggest shooting, 

 on partridges, that we have yet heard of, is that of three gentle- 

 men living in the neighborhood of Lynchburg, Virginia, who 

 bagged over one hundred partridges each during one day's shoot- 

 ing. This season of 1851 and 1852, partridges have been un- 

 usually plenty, more particularly along the large watercourses, 

 owing to several circumstances, all of which an observant sports- 

 man will readily understand.* 



Firstly. The previous winter having been remarkably mild and 

 open, few or no birds were destroyed by exposure to cold ; neither 

 were they driven by the scarcity of food into the deceptive traps or 

 still more cruel tunnel-nets. 



* GAME ABUNDANT. We learn from the Upper Mississippi country, that the 

 prairies in the vicinity of Keokuk and Rock Island are teeming with partridges 

 in unheard-of abundance. Large numbers are now brought from those places to 

 the New Orleans market. A few days since we noticed, on board of a steamboat, 

 coops containing one hundred and forty dozen of these birds. Also, the steamer 

 Saranak, on her last trip down, brought one hundred dozen. A gentleman informs 

 us, that a party with nets left Keokuk lately, and repaired to the island below that 

 town. They took four hundred birds in a single afternoon. Partridges sell in 

 this market at from 75 cents to $1 per dozen. In Keokuk they can be had at 

 from 40 to 50 cents per dozen. 



The St. Louis Evening News also states that large quantities of grouse, par- 

 tridges, deer, and other game, are daily sent from that place, almost every steamer 

 carrying out as many as it can accommodate. They are shipped to various points 

 on the Ohio, and in many instances have been sent as far as Baltimore, Philadelphia, 

 and New York. So large has this export been this season, that these articles are 

 now commanding an unusually high rate at St. Louis. 



