68 FIELD SHOOTING. 



strong, and it took good shooting, and hard hit- 

 ting to bring them to the bag. I killed from ten 

 brace to twenty brace a day, and averaged about 

 fifteen brace. My companions together did not 

 secure as many. In shooting grouse on the pas- 

 tures, and indeed anywhere, you should beware 

 of shooting too soon. Many more birds are 

 missed at short than at long shots, in my opin- 

 ion. The sudden, loud whirr made by the rising 

 of the grouse when it gets up startles young 

 sportsmen, and some nervous, excitable old ones 

 too. The shot is hastily delivered, while the 

 bird is so near that the charge has not distance 

 enough to diverge and spread in, and the game 

 is often missed. If the shooter had waited for 

 steady sight of the bird along the rib, which is 

 not to be a slow, pottering aim, it would have been 

 often brought down. In McLean County, Ford 

 County, and the others of the tier on that line, 

 there is as . good grouse-shooting as any I know of 

 anywhere in Illinois. They are in the section of 

 country lying southwest of Chicago, and a line 

 drawn from that city to St. Louis in Missouri 

 would pass through them. As good places as 

 any to get off the railroad at are Bellfiower in 

 McLean County, and Gibson in Ford County. 



