164 NOTES ON THE 
sibly be best accomplished by recalling the pleasant experiences 
of a chicken hunt in the southwestern part of the State, par- 
ticipated in by the writer, at the invitation of three others, 
Mr. Rand, Mr. George Morrison, and Mr. Dolliver. It was 
my first experience in western shooting, and the memory of 
the hunt, and the thought of that pleasant company with which 
it had been my good fortune to be united for two days, will 
always be a source of pleasure. Two of that party we shall 
never see again here, but | am not the only one who has been 
made happy by their genial presence; there are many of us 
who will never forget them. 
‘‘As a rule business men can spare but a day or two from the 
city for a ‘chicken hunt,’ and these were no exception. A 
telegram August 13th to New Richland, advised a well-known 
and well-tried landlord there, that a party of four would be 
down on the evening of the 14th; ‘have good rooms ready; we 
want you, your team and dog on the 15th.’ Then, on the after- 
noon before the auspicious 15th, the jolly company, with per- 
haps three dogs tied in the baggage car, and a liberal supply 
of ammunition in their carpet-bags, are transported, after two 
hours’ ride, to the little prarie town with its one street, a few gro- 
cery stores, saloons, elevator, and one ‘best’ hotel. Here they find 
everything in readiness, and after passing criticism on the dogs 
of various other hunting parties, and a whispered, mysterious 
conference with the landlord as to the location of the ‘best 
ground,’ the party retire to beds whose hardness is rendered 
endurable only by anticipation of the morning pleasure. Then, 
what seemed to be an hour’s rest, rudely broken by the land- 
lord who knocks at the door, with the announcement that ‘it is 
three o'clock,’ 
“A hasty donning of shooting jackets, filling of cartridges 
bags or belts, a still more hasty breakfast, prepared by the 
much enduring, patient wife of the landlord, a selecting of the 
right dogs from the crowd of creatures, old and young, good 
and bad, that are kenneled in and about the house, a packing 
of lunch into the wagon, not ommitting a good supply of water 
for man and dogs, and we are off at a brisk pace, while the 
dawn is first lighting up the east. The uncomfortable feeling 
caused by being awakened so early from a sound sleep, and be- 
ing obliged to leave a comfortable (?) bed is soon forgotten in 
the novelty of our situation. As the light grows brighter ob- 
jects which looked indistinct and shadowy in the darkness, are 
seen with more clearness and prove to be wheat stacks, or 
