The Prairie-Hen 169 



oak, and the general appearance is parklike. On 

 such ground the shooting is excellent, there being 

 just enough trees to keep a man keen and careful. 

 Many other places present a snarl of low scrub- 

 oak and hazels, seldom more than waist-high. In 

 such cover the chickens He like quail, and a good 

 shot can walk them up singly and drop bird after 

 bird till his coat can hold no more — then hey ! 

 for the following wagon, to deposit therein the 

 slain, and to resume the beat till the coat is again 

 too heavy for comfort. 



Days on these small Wisconsin prairies leave 

 enduring memories. It is quite true that the 

 number of birds and the possible bags could 

 never rival the possibilities of the mighty grass- 

 lands farther west, yet a gun could stop from a 

 dozen to three times that number of birds during 

 a day of hard work, and could a sportsman desire 

 more.? Your true sportsman is an artist, not a 

 butcher ; and amid the billowy hills of Wisconsin 

 he may feast his eyes upon a grand succession of 

 vistas, steeps of purpling oaks, ravines of golden 

 poplars, and sweet intervales of snug homes lying 

 amid well-tended fields, which delightfully serve 

 to sharpen the wild beauty of the background, 

 which remains as it has ever been. 



And they will not all be chickens, those birds 

 which Nimrod lovingly smooths and counts at 

 nightfall, when the tang gets into the air and the 



