Toung Hunters 



Another extraordinary shooting-aflfair hap- 

 pened one summer morning shortly after day- 

 break. When I went to the stable to feed the 

 horses I noticed a big white-breasted hawk on 

 a tall oak in front of the chicken-house, evi- 

 dently waiting for a chicken breakfast. I ran 

 to the house for the gun, and when I fired he 

 fell about halfway down the tree, caught a 

 branch with his claws, hung back downward 

 and fluttered a few seconds, then managed to 

 stand erect. I fired again to put him out of 

 pain, and to my surprise the second shot seemed 

 to restore his strength instead of killing him, 

 for he flew out of the tree and over the meadow 

 with strong and regular wing-beats for thirty 

 or forty rods apparently as well as ever, but 

 died suddenly in the air and dropped like a 

 stone. 



We hunted muskrats whenever we had time 

 to run down to the lake. They are brown 

 bunchy animals about twenty-three inches 

 long, the tail being about nine inches in length, 

 black in color and flattened vertically for scuU- 

 [ 177 ] 



