58 FIELD SHOOTING. 



on tussocks of thick grass which rise above the 

 surface. When the weather happens to he wet 

 about the last of May, many nests in the bottom- 

 lands are overflowed, and the young which may 

 have been hatched mostly perish by cold, starva- 

 tion, or drowning. The hens which have had 

 their nests destroyed by floods, by prairie-burn- 

 ing, or by the plough, commonly build again, but 

 their broods are late, and usually of small num- 

 ber, The hen lays from twelve to eighteen eggs, 

 white in color, and about the size of those of a 

 bantam hen. The hen sets twenty-one days, the 

 same as barn-door fowl. The young run as soon 

 as hatched ; and if a man or a dog should go near 

 where they are, they will hide and skulk under 

 the grass, even on the first day, while the old 

 hen will try to lead the intruder away. They 

 feed on insects for the most part, the old hens 

 catching them at first for the young chicks. The 

 latter, however, soon learn to catch them for 

 themselves. As they grow larger, they feed a 

 good deal on herbage. The young increase in size 

 very rapidly. They are not hatched until early 

 in June, at the earliest ; and on the fourth of July, 

 in a favorable season, I have seen broods which 

 were half grown. The breeding-time varies ac- 



