THE PINNATED GROUSE. 65 
to seek the woods for shelter and the cornfields for food, 
vast numbers are trapped by means of every known 
device, and forwarded to the Atlantic States and Europe. 
This method of capture is made easy by the habit the 
creatures have of uniting in large packs as soon as the 
weather becomes frosty, and of travelling together, even 
into the snares set for them. ; 
The general habits of the prairie chickens are now so 
well known that experienced sportsmen know where to 
seek for them at any time of the day or year. They 
are found in stubble fields and patches of flax and beans 
during the morning in the early part of the season, or on 
ridges and hillocks where the grass is short; but about 
ten o’clock, when the sun begins to get hot, they retire 
to the long grass and lie there until four or five o’clock 
P. M., when they resort to the fields again for food. 
They are sure to be found on the lee of a ridge if the 
wind blows strongly, and near the margins of sloughs in 
the evening. ‘The cornfields are favorite retreats during 
the middle of the day, as the long stalks protect them 
from the glare of the sun, and the ground is loose enough 
to enable them to enjoy their dust hath, which is their 
panacea for parasites. Dogs find it very difficult to work 
them up in such localities, owing to their habit of skulk- 
ing and the dryness of the earth. The sportsman also 
learns in a short time that he cannot make a large bag in 
tall corn, as he must depend entirely on snap shots, and 
he cannot mark them down when they alight after being 
flushed. 
The most experienced sportsmen rest during the heat 
of the day, and depend on morning and evening shooting 
for making their big bags, as the birds lie better to dogs 
then than at any other time. They are also found more 
promptly, as their scent is strong, and is borne some dis- 
tance away by the gentle breezes that generally blow for 
a few hours after sunrise and before sunset. They re- 
