112 " FEATHERED GAME 
and honey-combing the soft mold in an eager 
pursuit of breakfast after their journeyings. 
In fact, these birds are decidedly nocturnal in 
their habits. The main business of their lives 
is transacted by the light of the moon, and dur- 
ing the day (when out of season) they take 
their rest from their midnight wanderings,, 
basking in the sun in the openings among the 
birches of the side-hills, ‘‘lazying around’’ in 
the brushy ledges until their healthy appetites 
again demand attention. About sundown they 
brighten up and begin their hunt for food, fly- 
ing out into the open glades to push their long 
noses into the moist soil of the brook banks. In 
Russia the sportsman takes advantage of this 
habit and about sunset places himself in the 
edge of the woods bordering some likely feed- 
ing ground, and facing the western light, shoots 
them as they fly out to feed. This is called 
“stand shooting,’’ a method, I think, almost un- 
tried in America. My nearest approach to it 
happened one evening when with dog and gun 
I started for a nearby cover to see what was the 
prospect for sport with grouse in the morning. 
It was early in November, when after a long 
drought a fierce rainstorm had raged for sev- 
