THE PRAIRIE-GROUSE 69 



ing single shots and often doubles, since two or three 

 birds will often get up together. Others arise at the 

 report of the guns, and the shooting is rapid. Here, 

 as in all field shooting, observe the rule as to silence. 

 Do not exclaim about the merits or demerits of a shot, 

 especially when the gun has just been fired, for you 

 will most likely move a pair of birds just at your feet, 

 which no doubt will present the easiest chance for a 

 double, and be talked about for the rest of the day, as 

 the fish are which get away. Do not shout at the dog 

 or give him any orders if it can be avoided. Replace 

 the shells in the gun immediately after firing, and if 

 you care to do so and shoot fairly well you may bag 

 every bird in the covey then and there. 



Since the shooting is always in the open it is not 

 difficult to mark and follow the birds, except in stand- 

 ing corn, and it is not unusual for the entire covey to 

 be brought to bag before the sportsmen leave it. 

 Now that the birds are few in number sensible sports- 

 men do not care to exterminate them, and on the pre- 

 serves it is quite necessary to spare some of them if 

 there is to be any shooting another year. The mar- 

 ket gunner, always the most destructive, finding it 

 more and more difficult to dispose of the game, has in 

 most places ceased to shoot, and those who used to 

 trap large numbers of- the birds, using large traps 

 which often caught a covey at a setting, have ceased 

 to trap them for the same reason. 



In many of the States there are laws limiting the 

 size of the bag to be made in a day to from ten to 

 twenty-five birds and the limit may be easily reached 

 by shooting a few birds from each covey. So soon as 



