GROUSE-SHOOTING ON THE PRAIRIES. 297 
from Lake Superior and Texas to the Bay of Fundy. It is 
a fine bird on the table, but rarely affords much sport over 
setters and pointers, as it is a wild, shy, rambling species, 
and has a knack of running far ahead of the dogs, 
when pointed, and of rising entirely out of shot. It 
flies strongly and swiftly, taking wing when disturbed with 
an impetuous whirring rush, that is apt to disturb the 
nerves of a novice; and, as it for the most part takes to 
the tree, on being roused, it cannot generally be found a 
second time. The method of shooting it, usually prac- 
tised by the inhabitants of districts where it abounds, is 
to flush it with curs or spaniels, which chase it, yelping in 
pursuit, until it takes the tree, and then bay at the trunk, 
until the gunner comes up and shoots it sitting. No 
sportsman, of course, condescends to such butchery; for 
which the only excuse is, that in thick cedar and tamarisk 
swamps, where it frequents, it can hardly be shot fairly. 
Occasionally, where underwood is’ heavy and the country 
level, they will lie to the point; and in ravines, by hunting 
with three guns, two of which keep well in advance of 
the dogs on the ridges, while the third hunts along the 
hollows, shots may be got. I have never, however, found 
it pay to hunt for them exclusively, as they are the most 
rambling of all birds, not adhering, like quail, to the 
fields and feeding grounds in the vicinity of which they 
are hatched, but wandering over leagues of wood and 
mountain, so that the pack which is seen to-day at sunset, 
may be twenty miles off at noon to-morrow. The erro- 
neous legislation on the subject of this species, still farther 
diminishes the possibility of sport. By the twentieth of 
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